When In France
by Ninkita
Summary: Bella had spent the last 26 years waiting for her life to begin. And now, in this tiny French village, she saw her life staring back at her through the eyes of a stranger.
1. Chapter 1

_This was my entry for the May To December Romance Contest. It would probably never have been posted, had it not been for NewTwilightFan, who so kindly Beta'd this for me. I can't thank you enough, Maggie!_

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

..._..._...

"Isabella Marie Swan! What are you thinking?"

No good could come of a conversation that began with those words. Bella sighed and turned to look out of the window.

"I'm thinking that I would like some chocolate milk," she replied pleasantly.

Experience showed that patience was the best way to deal with Renee. She would rant and rave for a few minutes, until she ran out of steam. That was when Bella would explain exactly what she intended to do. It had worked when she wanted to go to stay with her dad Charlie at seventeen. It had worked when she decided to enroll in Community College instead of applying to the Ivy League colleges her mother thought she ought to, given her impressive high school scores. It had even worked when she decided to break up with Tyler two years ago. For some reason, Renee had been fonder of him than Bella ever had. Suppressing a shudder at the thought, she took a deep breath and waited for her mother to finish telling her why it was such a bad idea to go to France for a month.

"You've only just managed to get a respectable job! It's expensive in Europe. How are you going to pay for the tickets? Where will you stay?"

Bella put the phone on her desk, waiting for her mother to run out of protests. She wondered idly why Renee even bothered. For as long as she could remember, Bella had made her own decisions. Unlike her mother, she wasn't flighty. She took her time and weighed her options, ultimately choosing to do what felt right to her. Living with Charlie hadn't challenged her independence either—if anything, he trusted her judgment and encouraged her. Which is why it was frustrating when Renee decided to show her maternal concern by questioning Bella's decisions.

"Mom, I need a break," she said firmly once Renee paused for breath. "I haven't 'just' got a job. I'm 26 and I own my business. I can afford to take a break. I spoke to Aunt Carmen and she's invited me to stay at their farm in France. Rose is off from school as well, and Aunt C said something about wanting me to talk to her about some problems she's facing. . . No, I haven't a clue what problems. You'll have to try to get that out of your sister yourself… Alright, I have a meeting in ten minutes, so I'm gonna go now. I'll call you from France, alright? Don't worry so much about me. I love you. Bye!"

She ended the call, closed her eyes and breathed deeply for a moment. That was done. Now all she had to do was brief her assistant Alice and she would be free to leave. For a month. In France. There was no masking the grin of sheer delight that lit up Bella's face at the thought.

..._..._...

Uncle Eleazar and Aunt Carmen owned a small farm in a tiny village in south-central France. Getting there was interesting, to say the least. Bella flew from Seattle to London, stayed there overnight and caught the flight from Stansted to Limoges the next afternoon. This was her first trip abroad, and she was enjoying every moment of it, layovers, bad airplane food and snoring co-passengers included. When she stepped out of the Bellegarde airport at Limoges, she stopped for a moment just to breathe.

The next thing she knew was the warmth of her aunt's embrace. Carmen looked a little like Renee, if you squinted and looked at her sideways, but her personality was as different from her sister's as could be imagined. Where Renee was flighty, Carmen was grounded. She was a nurturer, and the nearest thing to a maternal figure Bella had in her life. Unfortunately, living on separate continents made their contact somewhat sporadic, but it taught Bella at a young age that love really isn't about how often you meet a person.

"We'd best be on our way home, anytime you two are done with your hug-fest," drawled Eleazar, leaning nonchalantly against his car. Bella grinned and gave him a warm hug as well.

"Aww, you know you're just jealous she got a hug before you did," she teased him. Laughing, they quickly got her bags into the trunk.

It was a beautiful half-hour drive to Le Mazet, and Bella alternated between updating them on her life, and gawking out the window at the countryside that flashed by. It was just after five when they reached home—a charming stone cottage with the prettiest blue shutters framing windows from which hung boxes of colorful flowers.

"Wow, Aunt C, the pictures don't do this place justice at all! It's such a lovely house!" Bella exclaimed, taking in the simple but comfortable interior.

"Now you know why I've been asking you to visit for so long. I've set up the upstairs bedroom for you. Rose has the one opposite yours, so the two of you can chat without us old folk cramping your style. She'll be home day after, by the way. She had some event at university. She'll tell you about it, I'm sure," explained Carmen.

Half an hour later, a freshly showered Bella sat down at her Aunt's kitchen table, sipping a cup of tea. Uncle Eleazar finished his cup and stood up.

"Bella, darling, I'm going to step over to the neighbor's. You wanna come along? I'll show you 'round the village as well."

Bella jumped at the offer. It had taken her all of five seconds to fall in love with the countryside, and she was keen to spend more time out in the open, soaking it all in. She fell into step with her uncle, following him as he turned right along the side of the cottage. Almost hidden by the thick hedges, she saw that there was a short driveway, which suddenly opened out into open land. Bella blinked in surprised delight at the sight of green, rolling fields. A gentle breeze blew a few strands of her open hair across her face, as she turned towards a curious hodgepodge of a building—a long, patched up affair that combined an old stone barn and a newer cottage. There were two massive stone pillars in front, forming an oddly charming covered front porch. She had never seen anything as strange, or as wonderful. Bella may have stayed there longer just gawking at the homestead, if her uncle's voice had not snapped her out of her daze.

Bella turned and looked straight into a pair of eyes so vividly green, they put the fields to shame. Her breath caught; her heart stopped beating for a moment. When it began beating again everything was different, yet oddly familiar. It felt like she had spent the last 26 years waiting for her life to begin. And now, in this tiny French village, she saw her life staring back at her through the eyes of a stranger.

"Bella, come meet my neighbor, Edward Masen. Bella just arrived this afternoon, travelled all the way from Seattle. Thought I'd better introduce her to all the other village bumpkins so she knows what company she's let herself in for the next month!"

It was an effort to make herself move forward and hold out her hand to the tall man. The moment he took her hand in his own, she knew without a doubt. She _knew_ this man. Her soul recognized his. How was that possible?

He held her hand for longer than was probably appropriate, but neither of them was keen to let go. His shocked gaze mirrored hers. She discreetly clutched her tingling hand to her heart as her uncle chatted with Edward about something or the other. Bella could not focus on anything other than the indescribable feelings rushing through her. His eyes darted to her own frequently, though he was talking to her uncle again.

All too soon, her uncle was ready to go home. Bella felt torn inside. Part of her wanted to hold onto this man and never let go, while the other part wanted to step back and get some perspective on... whatever had just happened. She knew she was too worked up to go home immediately.

"Uncle, I think I'll walk around a while, get a feel of the place. I'll be along in a bit, if that's alright," Bella said.

"That's an excellent idea," said Edward, his smooth voice sending shivers up and down her body. "Why don't you go on home, Eleazar, and I'll show Bella around?"

Bella was struck dumb by the suggestion. So much for getting away and clearing her head! Before she knew it, Eleazar was gone and she stood facing Edward alone. He reached out and took her hand in his. Inexplicably, she relaxed, and smiled. He smiled in response, and for the first time she took in his appearance. Her eyes widened as she realized that he was remarkably good looking. Tall and broad shouldered, he had a rugged strength about him that made her feel safe. He was probably a bit older than her, though, late thirties at least by her estimate. The breeze ruffled his hair, an interesting mix of brown mixed with gold and a few grays. For some reason, that sight snapped her out of her trance, and landed her right in the land of awkward.

"Hi, I'm Bella. I'm sorry, I was incredibly rude back when my uncle introduced us, but I just couldn't speak. I…"

"_De rien, cherie_. It's alright. I think… well it is difficult to explain, but I think I understand." He spoke with only a slight hint of an accent, which added to the allure of his already attractive voice.

"It was your eyes," she tried to explain.

He laughed a little self-consciously, and was that a red tinge to his ears? His gaze, however, was steady as he spoke again. "Mine? Bella, your eyes… I've never seen such calm eyes in my life. It's like you have all the answers."

That made her laugh and suddenly the awkwardness disappeared. "All the answers? You should have told my teachers back in school that. They would have had a good laugh."

"I aim to please," he said with a grin that made her insides go weak. "Now, shall I show you around our little village, _mademoiselle_?"

"Oh yes, please," she responded.

"When in France…" he trailed off with a smile. "Say '_s'il vous plait_' for please. Greet the people you meet with _bonjour_, and thank them with _merci_. That and your charming smile will have the entire village at your feet."

She didn't know whether to laugh or take him seriously. She settled for blushing, and softly repeating, "_S'il vous plait_."

They fell into step, walking through the village as they chatted about nothing in particular. With every step they took, Bella fell deeper under the enchantment of the verdant land, and the man by her side.

..._..._...

"Bella!" Rose was a blur in blue, as she almost flattened Bella with the force of her hug. It had been over three years since they had last met, and Bella could hardly believe her eyes. Gone was the chubby, unsure sixteen year old whose glasses nearly eclipsed her entire face. She still wore glasses, but these were sleek and somehow managed to bring out the beauty of her blue eyes. She had grown a few inches in the last few years, and apparently bribed a couple of good fairies as well—the girl before her was slim, with clear skin, attractive curves and a head of shining golden hair that reached down to her waist in gentle waves. "Rosie! You look spectacular! Oh, I've missed you!" Despite the seven year age gap, the two had always been close. Carmen and Eleazar smiled knowingly at each other while the girls chattered on in the back of the car. From past experience, they knew that it would be a while before those two were done talking.

Finally home, the two girls climbed up to the upper level of the cottage. Apart from the two bedrooms, there was just one large living space with a couple of comfortable couches, a pile of cushions, and a TV and DVD player. Oh, and a few crates of wine that Eleazar had clearly neglected to move to the cellar. Bella couldn't help but think how perfectly the house reflected the warmth of its owners. She wondered what Edward's house said about him. Surely a house couldn't be classified as sexy!

Suppressing her amusement at her own ridiculous thoughts, Bella made herself comfortable on one of the couches, turned to Rose and said, "Spill."

"Umm, ok. See, you know I love uni, right? I mean, I love learning, I love spending time in the lab, but well… I don't really have too many friends, you know? So a few weeks back, I started getting these notes."

"Like love notes or creepy stalker-y notes?" Bella interrupted.

Rose let out a surprised laugh. "Definitely not love notes, but not really creepy either. I mean the first one just said 'hi'. And the others were pretty normal sounding as well… wishing me a good day, or that they admired my intelligence. Stuff like that. But then I started getting these phone calls at the lab. Whoever it was wouldn't say a word, just hang up. Then last week, the person finally said 'you're beautiful' and hung up. Every day since then, she would call, say something like that and hang up!"

"She? You know who it is?" Bella was beyond intrigued by now.

"Yeah, at least I think I do. I guess she muffled her voice when she talked, and there was a lot of annoying heavy breathing, but it sounded like Jane. She's in lab a lot, and a group of us have hung out for lunch a few times. She's a little strange, but maybe that's just around me? I don't know B, what'm I supposed to do?"

"That depends. Do you like her?" Bella wiggled her eyebrows in a suggestive way that she knew would annoy Rose.

"Bella!" Rose whined. "I like guys, ok? I don't know how to deal with this! What if I tell her to back off, and she thinks I'm homophobic? Or what if I'm nice to her and she tells everyone I'm into her? I'll never have a boyfriend then! Not that anyone in uni is remotely interesting, but what if word gets around? I'll never have a chance with him!"

"Woah, girl. Breathe a little. First, you're gorgeous, you know. It's hardly surprising that someone got up the guts to tell you. Second, give the Jane situation a little time. She'll probably figure out that you aren't interested. Third, who is this guy you are so tied up about? And don't even think about pretending there isn't someone."

Rose blushed a deep red. "I met him when I was here a couple of months back."

"Wait, here, as in this tiny village? Was it a backpacker?" Bella cast her mind over all the fifty or so inhabitants of Le Mazet. There hadn't seemed to be anyone remotely close to Rose's age.

"No, I…" Unfortunately, Rose's words were cut short by the sound of her mother calling the girls down for supper. They had no time for another chat all evening, until Carmen finally declared that she was turning in for the night, followed by Eleazar.

"It's still light out," observed Bella. "Mind if we talk a walk?"

"Not at all, darling, just lock up when you get home," said Eleazar, waving them off.

It took the girls all of a minute to grab light jackets and dash out of the door. As they crossed the little gate leading to Edward's farm, Bella could not resist a peek. There he was, fixing a window frame, by the looks of it. She suppressed a sigh.

After such a promising start, she had been disappointed when there was no word from Edward the last two days. The worst of it was that he seemed to be avoiding her. Just this morning, she was leaning out of her bedroom window when she noticed that she had clear sight of his land. Admiring the view, she had seen him working near what she assumed was his shed. Shirtless Edward was a truly great view. As though he could feel her gaze on his skin, Edward had turned and looked straight at her. Before she could lift her hand to wave, he had turned and charged into his house as if he had the hounds of hell at his heels. And now there he was, working on his house and looking annoyingly attractive.

"Oh look, it's Edward!" said Rose, jumping in place and waving as she called out to him.

Before Bella could drag her away, Edward had seen them, and after a moment's hesitation, he made his way towards them.

"_Bonsoir_, ladies. When did you get home, Rose?" He was polite, but Bella felt something off about his greeting. Then it hit her. He wasn't meeting her eyes.

Fortunately, Rose didn't pick up on the weirdness between the other two. In fact, Bella was surprised to see how easily the usually shy girl chattered away to Edward. A sudden, unwelcome thought struck her. Was it Edward that Rose was interested in? No! It couldn't be! He was much too old for her. Eleazar had told her he was 40, right? Twenty one years was too much of a gap; surely he and Rose had nothing in common, just that she was absolutely perfect and he was clearly a god among men. With a superhuman effort, Bella stopped her internal monologue before she went crazy.

Rose was really talking up a storm. "Dad and I are thinking of taking Bella around. It's her first time in France and all she wants to do is laze around the farm! Can you imagine that? There's a lot to see around here, isn't there? There are the Roman Ruins they excavated near Chassenon. Do you remember, Edward, all of us had gone there in spring?"

"Yes, you should definitely take Bella around," Edward said, finally looking straight at the woman in question. His gaze was as electrifying as it had been the first day, but now there was a reserve, and was that anger? Why would he be angry with her?

Before Bella could begin to hyperventilate, however, Edward's gaze softened. "Not Chassenon, though. You should visit Brantôme. You would like it there."

"Oh yes! What a wonderful idea," Rose chirped, oblivious as ever. "In fact, why don't you come with us? It's a bit farther off, Bella, but the drive is beautiful. Oh, we could take along a picnic basket and make a day of it. It will be so much fun! Please, Edward?"

Once again, his gaze met Bella's. She smiled involuntarily. Something intangible sparked between them.

Edward pulled his gaze away and took a step back. "Alright, I'll talk to Eleazar tomorrow. Maybe we can plan something for day after, that's Thursday, right. You girls better be on your way now, it's getting late. _Au revoir_."

Effectively dismissed, Rose waved and turned to walk down the lane. Bella turned to do the same, but was stopped by Edward's hand on her wrist.

"Is that alright with you?" he asked softly.

"Holding my hand or taking a trip to Brantôme?" Bella asked with a slight smirk. She gripped his hand tight when he made to let go, and reached up to whisper in his ear, "It is more than alright with me."

She turned and hurried off after Rose, turning once to throw back a wink and a soft goodnight. She knew that his dazed smile would feature in her dreams that night.

..._..._...

"Rosie, you never did tell me who it was," commented Bella, as she sat brushing out Rose's long hair later that night.

Rose went as still as stone, before fidgeting with the edge of the bed spread.

"Come on, you know you can tell me. What are you worried about?" coaxed Bella.

"He... I don't know, Bella. He's so handsome and smart. I'll just make a fool of myself over him, I know it!" She turned and hid her face in Bella's lap.

Somehow her words reminded Bella of the fleeting suspicion she had about Rose and Edward. Surely not! But Bella could not resist probing a little.

"Is he older, this guy? You say you met him here, and there aren't any others your age here are there?"

Rose peeped up at Bella a little sheepishly and said, "Yes, he is a little older than me, but that shouldn't matter, right?"

"Well no, but Edward is twenty one years older than you! I mean ok, that sounds a bit stupid coming from me, he's fourteen years older than me, too, but still… there are things you have to consider, I mean there's compatibility and understanding and… and of course he is gorgeous, but you've got such potential. You're going to be a scientist someday, win the Nobel Prize, maybe, and he's here on a farm, and why is he even here? What does he even do?"

Bella paused to take a breath and noticed Rose staring at her with her mouth open. "Edward? Ewww! That's just… weird, Bella! He's dad's friend, he's like my uncle, and he _is_ Emmett's uncle. That would be beyond creepy!"

"Wha.. who's Emmett?" Bella realized her word vomit had probably revealed more than she wanted, so deflection was the best course of action.

"Emmett's the guy I like. He's twenty five, and in the PhD program at Oxford. Edward's his uncle. I met him when he visited in spring. He was so nice, and I could actually talk to him without worrying about sounding nerdy, because you know, he got me!" Rose's eyes sparkled as she told Bella all about her crush. The blow-by-blow took a while, of course, and it was midnight when they finally decided to call it a day.

"Goodnight, Bella. Thanks for listening to me and being the best sister ever. And I think fourteen years isn't that big a gap, if you really like Edward." With a wink, Rose ran into her bedroom and shut the door just in time to dodge the pillow Bella threw at her.

Bella glared at the closed door for a moment, before her face relaxed into a grin.

..._..._...

Wednesday did not go as planned. Eleazar got a phone call at breakfast that sent the little household into a tizzy. His brother Benjamin had suffered a heart attack. He was stable now, but his family was understandably shaken. Within minutes, it was decided that Eleazar, Carmen and Rose would fly out to London immediately. Despite her protests, Eleazar was adamant that Bella should stay on.

"I don't want to cut short your holiday, darling. Hopefully we'll be back within a week."

"Why can't I stay back with Bella, dad? You know it'll just freak Aunt Angie out to have more people to deal with. I'm nineteen now, it's not like I can't stay home on my own!" protested Rose.

"She's right, Uncle E. I'd feel happier with her around as well," Bella said.

Eleazar looked from one to the other, before finally sighing in defeat. "Oh, alright, it's probably better that you are together. I will ask Edward to keep an eye on the two of you, though," he warned.

Within three hours, it was all arranged. Edward drove them to the airport, stopping by at the farm on his way back. He knocked on the door, but there was no response. A muffled shriek from the backyard had him rushing round the cottage, only to stop short at the sight in front of him. Bella was hopping around a lawn mower on one leg, having apparently hurt her foot while kicking it, while Rose was rolling on the grass, howling with laughter.

Relieved that they were both safe, Edward took a moment to admire the woman before him. No one had ever affected him the way she had. At forty, he was sure he had seen everything there was to see, but Bella Swan in knee-high rubber boots and shorts, jumping so that her breasts jiggled enticingly? That was something else.

Ever since he had met her—was it just five days ago?—thoughts of her consumed him. When Eleazar had told him that Carmen's niece would be visiting, he expected a kid like Rose, someone to whom he would be another uncle. But Bella Swan had tossed all his avuncular intentions out of the window the moment she first looked at him with those deep brown eyes of hers. Of course he wanted her physically, but she made him _feel_, and that scared him. And now Eleazar had entrusted him with the responsibility of keeping these two safe. Considering the thoughts and fantasies he had about Bella, what she really needed was someone to keep her safe from him. What a mess.

Sighing deeply, he ran his hand through his hair and strode purposefully into the backyard. Rose was still laughing, but Bella had stopped hopping around. She was now trying to unhook the bag attached to the mower.

"Here, let me," murmured Edward, standing behind her and running his hands softly down her arms. He gripped the bag and unhooked it in one easy motion.

She turned in the circle of his arms and her breath caught. He was so close that she could see the long eyelashes that veiled his eyes, feel his breath on her lips, and smell the enticing aroma that was pure eau-de-Edward. Her eyelids lowered, and she unconsciously swayed closer. A strange stillness seemed to have settled over the two. They were trapped in a warm cocoon of sunshine, with the smell of flowers, fresh cut grass, and want heavy in the air.

A cough broke them out of the spell.

"Hi, Edward, you want to help us with the yard today?" questioned Rose, smiling innocently at the bemused man.

He let the bag of grass drop, and stepped away from Bella, effectively breaking their almost-embrace.

"Umm, sure. I actually wanted to ask if you guys are still up for the trip to Brantôme tomorrow."

"Oh yes, we are! Right, Bella?" Rose turned her wide, hopeful eyes to her cousin.

"Right," Bella agreed. Why would she turn down a chance to spend time with Edward? As it was, she couldn't stop thinking of him. May as well spend the day with him!

..._..._...

Brantôme was like something out of a fairy tale. A little island surrounded by the waters of the River Dronne, a series of bridges connected it to the mainland. The water was calm and reflected the beautiful arches of the bridges, the wildflowers, the clouds in the deep blue sky—it was perfect.

Edward casually put an arm around Bella's shoulders, hugging her to his side. Something had changed after their moment in the garden yesterday, and he found it increasingly difficult to keep away from her. She was still too young for him, and he would still have to deal with the fallout should Eleazar find out about his attraction to Bella. But this feeling he had for her—it went beyond desire, it was stronger than any guilt he might harbor, and it made him want to be reckless. So he caved, taking every opportunity to touch her; brushing away a wisp of her hair, touching her arm as he passed by—he couldn't help himself any longer. Thankfully Rose did not remark on it, so maybe he wasn't being as obvious as he thought he was.

In any case, bringing Bella to Brantôme had been both a great idea, and a spectacularly foolish one. She loved the old Abbey, just as he knew she would. The history surrounding them stunned her, especially when she learnt that Abbey was founded by Charlemagne. Rose was a fount of knowledge, and regaled them with dates and names, architectural styles and political histories. She was particularly keen on taking a tour to explore the caves, but nothing would convince Bella to accompany her. Edward volunteered to stay out with her, proving the 'foolish' part of his self-assessment.

It was already testing his control, to keep his touches light and friendly. All he could think of was kissing those plump lips, touching that soft skin, pushing into her moist heat, marking her as his. Without the buffer that Rose provided, how long would he last around Bella?

"Come on, I want to explore the town," she said with a bright smile, breaking into his thoughts. She grabbed his hand, pulling him along across the bridge and onto the island. She was charmed by everything she saw—the narrow streets, the cobbled pathways, the bridges, the quaint eateries—but most of all, the company of the enigmatic man by her side. His voice sent shivers down her spine; his smile made her heart skip. There was no ignoring the palpable attraction that lay between them. He made her laugh, especially when he produced a small digital camera and insisted on taking pictures of her on each of the five medieval bridges. He made her feel alive.

It was almost time for Rose's tour to end, so they started to make their way back to the Abbey. Just shy of the bridge, however, Edward pulled Bella into an adjoining meadow. There were a few people scattered around, but it was quieter than the town had been. He led her to a spot near the river bank and gently backed her up against a tree. For a moment, they just looked at each other, overwhelmed once again by the strange familiarity of being together this way, the rightness of it. She reached up to stroke the hair at the nape of his neck, and his eyes closed at the sensation. When he opened his eyes, they were darker, more intense. Bella's breath hitched, and her lips parted in invitation. With a low growl, Edward gave in.

When his lips touched hers, she felt a spark run through her body, settling low in her belly. His lips parted and took her plump lips in, biting the lower one, before soothing it with his tongue. He sucked on her lip, and she fervently wished he would do the same to other parts of her body as well. His hands left a trail of fire in their wake as they moved slowly from her hips to her waist, up until his thumbs brushed the sides of her aching breasts.

He pulled back, his glance a challenge. His thumbs moved to stroke across the front of her thin t-shirt, making her nipples pebble with want. He swallowed her gasp with a kiss that beseeched, demanded, and promised so much more than she had ever believed possible. Their tongues touched and stroked, and their bodies gravitated closer. When he tried to slow the kiss, she made a guttural sound of protest, nipping at his lip and grinding her hips against the straining erection he could not hope to hide. He pushed her back against the tree trunk, covering her body with his own, making her whimper. Nuzzling her jaw, he dropped a kiss on the soft skin just below her ear.

"Temptress," he whispered against her skin, making her shiver. "I could devour you, Bella. I want to. I can't imagine anything more delicious than to taste you on my tongue. I want your skin on mine, I want your sweat dripping onto my body, and I want my name on your lips when I enter you. I want to make you come so hard, that my name is the only thing you remember." His tongue darted out, sucking and licking along her neck as if to emphasize his words.

"From the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were mine. You felt it too, didn't you? I tried to stay away, I tried to be distant, but I couldn't. Now it's up to you, sweetheart. Do you want to know me? Do you want to give in to this feeling?"

His words were soft, gently spoken, but filled her with a yearning that she could barely comprehend. She reached up and pressed her lips to his in a kiss that was strangely chaste after the unbridled passion of the last few minutes.

"Edward, I came to France because my life was empty and I needed time to think. I've always had the feeling that I had to prove myself, so I put in every moment of the last five years making a success of my business. I source local artisans' work to upscale boutiques and art galleries, you know. I worked hard for my success, but I was always worried about what my parents would think, or if what I did was enough. I felt like I had to live up to the expectations of everyone around me, so I dated men I felt would fit in with the image. I tried, and the guys weren't horrible or anything, but it was a chore. Being in a relationship with them was tiring. I finally broke up with my last boyfriend two years ago, put everything I had into work, but I was still not happy. I was tired of caring what anyone thought, Edward. Caring hurts. A week ago, I came across an old diary of mine that finally pushed me to take a break. I had a list in there, things I wanted to do before I turned 30. I wrote it when I was twelve, so a lot of it was kind of silly. But there was one thing that struck me. I had written that I want to 'be happy'. I wasn't happy until the moment I saw you."

Edward had heard her out patiently, holding her close, but at that he couldn't hold back. He dipped his head down and captured her lips in a searing kiss that left them both breathless.

"I'm yours, Edward. I know I couldn't explain it the day we met, but I know _you_. I trust you. Do you have a wife or a girlfriend? Children? You might, and it doesn't change a thing for me. I'll be your friend, if that's all I can be to you."

Edward smiled down at her earnest expression. This beautiful young woman in his arms completely undid him with her honesty. He drew in a deep breath and finally stepped away from her, trailing his hands down until they clasped hers.

"Bella, there is no one else. But we do need to talk. I want to know every little thing about your life, and I want to tell you about me. I want you to know why I'm here. It'll have to wait, though," he said, looking up towards the Abbey. "Rose is back."

..._..._...

"So, would you rather be with a man who would let you fend for yourself, or one who would be possessive and demand to have a say in every part of your life?" Edward asked.

"I'm an independent woman," Bella said. "That doesn't mean I don't want to be cherished."

Edward grinned and dropped a kiss on her head. Rose laughed at their banter and went back to whatever it was she was decoding on her laptop.

The last week had been one of the happiest of Bella's life. Edward spent every morning driving the girls around to all the places he and Rose decreed Bella must not miss. Every evening, Rose got down to work on her laptop, while Edward and Bella played the longest and most exhaustive game of twenty questions ever. The only blot on Bella's otherwise pristine French landscape was that Edward refused to do more than kiss her.

"Until we know where we are at," he said. He then proceeded to kiss her with such passion and tenderness that she forgot what they were talking about in the first place.

Then on Thursday, exactly a week after their trip to Brantôme, Edward seemed a little distracted. His smiles seemed forced, and even his bantering seemed off.

"Is something bothering you?" Bella asked, when she could no longer bear the brooding look on his face.

"No, _cherie_." He took a deep breath and shook his head as though to clear it. "I have a bit of a headache this morning. And I sometimes think too much. Learn from my experience, thinking is a waste of time." He attempted a smile, but from the unconvinced look on her face, he knew it fell flat.

"Edward, sometimes it helps to share your thoughts. Sometimes, it's less of a headache if it's not all on your head, you know?" She gently kissed his forehead and walked off to talk to Rose.

Edward looked at the retreating form of the woman he loved. He knew she was right, and he knew exactly the person who could help him with his problems. He flipped open his cell phone and dialed a number he had been avoiding for months—Jasper.

His mood seemed to have improved that evening, when he showed Bella around his house. It was the craziest thing she had ever seen, a combination of a 500 year old stone barn and a twentieth century cottage. Edward had completely stripped the interiors, broken down walls and joined the two buildings. He had used as much of the original structure as possible, and the result was surprisingly pleasant.

"I inherited this land and the buildings from my grandfather Masen. My father wasn't interested in the place, and pretty much ignored it. We lived in America for a while, in New York, then moved to London. But this had always been my happy place, and this is where I came when the walls seemed to be closing in on me." Edward looked out across the fields and then to the woman sitting next to him.

"They would have loved you. But they died. I... I tried, Bella. I had worked so hard with my friend Jasper, and our company was doing so well. It wasn't even affected by the recession, much. But I was always working, and hardly went back home to visit. Then one day, mom had a stroke and died. I never got to say goodbye, I hadn't even been to see her in three months. Two months after she died, they diagnosed dad with cancer. He had a tumor in the brain. I quit working. Jasper insisted I keep my part of the partnership, but for all intents and purposes, it's been his company for the last eighteen months. I took care of dad, got him the best treatment I could. But when the doc said nothing more could be done, I just tried to make dad happy. I took him to places he liked, we did stuff together that he'd always wanted us to, but that I never had the time for. Four months ago, he died in his sleep."

Bella squeezed his hand, but remained silent.

"I felt drained. I didn't have anything to achieve. I didn't have anyone to live for. I've never had a serious girlfriend, much less a wife, Bella. In my twenties, I wasn't even thinking long-term, and in my thirties I was focused on the company. In my head, I was still the same person I'd been ten years ago, and the idea of tying myself down to a person just didn't occur to me. The day my dad died, it hit me that I was all alone. My safety-net was gone. I was nearly forty, but I was completely clueless. I needed time to figure my life out, so I moved here. Thanks to Jasper and my earlier investments, I'm still comfortably off, but I've been thinking. It's time I started living again."

He turned to Bella and gazed into her eyes. "I need to leave, almost immediately. Give me a few days, sweetheart. There are some things I need to figure out. I will be back."

He kissed her eyelids and then her lips, and finally her cheeks.

He could still taste the salt of her tears on his lips when he drove away early next morning.

..._..._...

Friday was sunny, and Rose helped Bella trim the grass in the yard. It seemed to grow as fast as they cut it, but it was good to be out in the fresh air.

Saturday was pleasant, and Rose introduced Bella to Emmett over Skype. Apparently, Edward had done some helpful meddling, and the two were now chatting daily, as 'friends'. Rose did blush at the term, though.

Sunday was one of the most beautiful days that summer. Walking through the fields that surrounded Le Mazet, Bella smiled at Madame Dupree, enjoying her evening tea on her front lawn.

"_Bonjour_, Madame," she called out politely.

"_Bonjour, comment ça va_?" called back the old lady with a wave.

"_Ça va bien_. _Au revoir_!" she waved back. That was the extent of her French conversation anyhow. She would have to ask Edward to help her learn the language. Her heart stuttered at the thought of the man she knew she loved more than anyone in the world. It had barely been three days, and she missed him with an intensity that she wouldn't have believed possible.

When she returned home, Rose was on the phone. Bella motioned to her to continue talking, while she divested herself of her light jacket and toed off her shoes.

When she walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water, Rose was just hanging up.

"That was mom," she said, with a smile. "Uncle Ben is much better now. Mom and Dad are coming home tomorrow night. She said they'll probably get Uncle Ben and Aunt Angie to come down a couple of weeks later. He needs the rest and God knows, there isn't another place on earth as quiet as Le Mazet."

Bella laughed in response to Rose's cheeky grin. "That is so true. I'm glad Aunt C will be back tomorrow. I've missed them."

"I know who else you've missed," mumbled Rose, with a grin.

"Ohh! Someone is happy today. Enjoyed your Skype date, did you?" jibed Bella, sticking her tongue out at her cousin.

"Yes, I did. And I truly believe you will be happy too, soon," Rose said, coming over to hug Bella. "You don't know how much I missed you all these years, Bella. Just talking to you helps me figure stuff out. So yeah, I want you to be happy, and Edward makes you happy, doesn't he? Can you imagine how cool it'll be if you marry him and I marry Em? I mean I know Dad and Mom will probably freak out for about Edward's age for ten minutes, but they love you so they'll be happy, especially when they see you two together. You guys are sickeningly sweet, you know? And Uncle Charlie will love Edward. Aunt Renee… well, she'll probably try to put a dampener on your happiness, but we'll get mom to deal with her. I mean…"

"Woah, cool your jets! Marrying Em, are you? Way to go from sappy to shocker, Rose," Bella said with a laugh. She didn't even try to disguise the blush that colored her cheeks at the thought of marrying Edward.

She spent an hour wondering how that would work, if they lived on two different continents. She spent another two hours trying to figure out the possibility of relocating her business to France.

..._..._...

Bella had a strange dream that night.

A woman lay sleeping in her bed, but her dreams seemed troubled. Though the moonlight filtering through the partially curtained windows did not reach her sleeping form, it was not difficult to note her evident distress. She tossed and turned, whimpering and calling out in her sleep. She seemed to settle, before restlessly turning to her side. And so the pattern might have continued, if a golden haired girl hadn't let a tall, green-eyed man into the room.

The man stood at her door for a moment, and drew a deep, steadying breath. He then walked quietly but surely to the sleeping form. For the space of a heartbeat, he looked down at the sleeping woman. Then he carefully slipped his arms beneath her, and lifted the girl as carefully as though she were crafted from fragile glass. In stark contrast to her earlier restlessness, the girl quieted down in his arms. Her head turned involuntarily to rest in the crook of his neck, where the scent of night and a man in love soothed her into deeper slumber.

She didn't stir when he dropped a light kiss upon her forehead. She didn't stir when he carried her out of her room, and out of the house. She merely pursed her lips up into an unhappy pout when he finally lay her down upon his own bed, in his own house. That was smoothed away the moment he lay down beside her, tucking her securely under a warm blanket, running his long fingers through her soft hair. The man did not sleep all night, keeping vigil as his love slept.

..._..._...

Bella didn't want to open her eyes. She was so comfortable and warm. And it smelt so good, what was that smell? It was yummy, but comforting, like pancakes, or something absolutely edible. Mmmm, she would drool her way out of her dream at this rate, she thought, snuggling into the pillow. The pillow smelt so good, just like Edward. She loved Edward. He was yummy too. If she didn't open her eyes, maybe she could pretend that she was in his bed, in his arms, safe and warm. She could pretend that he loved her and he had come back for her and they were going to rule Le Mazet. Ok, maybe not that last part, but only because it sounded like a bore to rule fifty people. Her satisfied smirk was replaced with a look of close-eyed confusion when a chuckle broke through her consciousness.

"Open your eyes, _cherie_." The voice was warm and yummy too, like Edward. Oh, it sounded like him. Why was he calling her a cherry? Did he want to pop her cherry? She wanted to suck him like a cherry popsicle. She unconsciously licked her lips.

She heard a low groan, and then her lips were assaulted by the softest, most delicious lips. Her eyes shot open in shock.

"Edward! How… what are… where are we?" Bella sat up and looked around in confusion. She raised her hand to trace the contours of his face, as though to ensure that he was real. Their eyes met, and it was like the first time they'd met, again.

"I brought you home, to my place. I hope you don't mind," he smiled, dazzling her with his green eyes.

"But how did you bring me here?" she persisted.

"Rose helped, opened the door and so on. I carried you over, simple." He shrugged like it was no big deal. "You must be hungry. Why don't you freshen up and I'll get our breakfast up here." With another quick peck, he was gone.

Bella sat there, stunned for a moment, until his words sunk in. She needed to brush her teeth so she could kiss him properly! Ten minutes later, she sat on the wide ledge of his window, watching as he carried a laden tray into the room and set it down on the bedside table.

"Did you make all that?" She could see croissants, an omelet, pancakes, juice, and was that chocolate milk? Wow, just when she thought she couldn't love him more, he did something like this.

"Ah, no. I mean I bought the croissants, and the pancakes are from a mix, but I did make the _omelette au fromage_ just for you. And Rose said you love chocolate milk, so I bought two cartons."

She couldn't help it. She jumped off the ledge and straight into his waiting arms. Their lips met with explosive passion, sucking, licking, stroking and nipping at each other, in a dance their bodies were eager to replicate. Finally breaking away to breathe, Bella pushed him to sit back on the bed, and straddled his lap.

"Missed me, did you?" she smirked, running her fingers through his soft hair.

"Nah, I didn't really have time to miss you. I had all these girls I had to say goodbye to, you know. They were sad, so I had to comfort them. That's what took me three days," he said with a crooked grin.

"I don't care if you did go off to have one last fling with Olga the busty barkeep, so long as you aren't going back to her or anyone else," Bella said, narrowing her eyes and nipping at his earlobe.

His eyes were sparkling with joy and lust as he laughed out loud. "Sweetheart, I don't think anyone else is interested in having me, so you're probably stuck with me. You silly little thing, I missed you every minute I was away. It was a good trip, though."

"Yeah? Did you figure out your life already?" she asked skeptically, reaching over to grab a plate of food.

"Pretty much. We can work out the details together, but I did meet Jasper. He can't wait to meet you, by the way. I'm going to get back to work, and we're going to look into setting up a branch in Seattle."

He was interrupted by the sight of Bella choking. He immediately banged her firmly on the back, till her coughs subsided. Drinking the chocolate milk he so thoughtfully pressed into her hand, Bella asked, "Seattle? You said Seattle, didn't you? I didn't make it up in my head?"

Edward chuckled. "Yeah, you heard right. I need to be near you. Besides, expansion will be good for the company. Jasper was very excited at the thought."

"Shut the front door! I was planning on moving my business to France so I could be near you! We can't both move, we'll be back on two different continents again!"

He couldn't hold back the happy laughter any longer. "You are ridiculous, you know? I love you for it, though, so don't even think of changing. Finish eating, I've got better things to do with my morning."

Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "What things? And you love me? And you tell me that right after you tell me I'm ridi…"

Her words were cut off by a very determined pair of lips. There was silence for a moment, before he pulled away. Grabbing the hem of her t-shirt, he pulled it over her head with a remarkable efficiency of movement. "Oh nice, no bra," he smirked.

Before she had time to remark on that or anything else, he had tossed her onto the bed and was hovering over her, with a dangerously sexy look in his eyes.

"I love you, and I am now going to make love to you. Anything you want to say to that?"

She nodded. "I love you. Now get on with the good stuff, please. My aunt and uncle will be home this evening. We're working on a deadline here."

He sniggered, before pulling off his own t-shirt. He was in remarkably good shape for a man of forty. Plus, the renovations he had been working on over the last four months had added definition to his muscles. Bella reached up to touch his chest. She had seen it once from her window, but being able to touch it, taste it… she was lost in her explorations, pushing him onto his back and randomly nipping, sucking and licking as she made her way over his torso, and down to his navel. Her hand dipped lower, cupping and teasing his hard length through the cotton of his sweatpants.

He sat up, pulling her to him so that their bare torsos pressed together. Her nipples hardened into sharp nubs of sensation and she writhed against him, needing more friction. He soothed her, stroking the silken fall of her rich brown hair over her shoulder and down her back. Their lips met once again, in a soft kiss, then again, deeper, and sweeter than ever before.

He lay her down and kissed her again, moving his fingers with feather-light touches, over the curves of her breasts, down her sides and back again. She stifled a moan as his fingers brushed against the sensitive skin of her belly. His hands grasped her hips firmly, as his thumbs traced feather light circles on her abdomen that had her squirming with want.

"More?" he asked softly.

"More," she pleaded.

The instant his fingers moved off her skin, she almost protested, until she realized that they had merely moved a few inches south, to skim under the waistband of her pajama bottoms.

Her eyes closed in anticipation, as he pulled them off, leaving her covered only by her pink cotton bikini briefs. Her eyes shot open. Her pink cotton panties, that had a small hole or two near the waistband. She moaned, this time in mortification, and tried to turn over and hide under the pillows. Why could she not have worn sexy, non-holey lingerie? Why, God, why?

A deep chuckle brought her back to the situation she had just been trying to hide from. He was laughing at her!

"Sweetheart, I'm not laughing at you," he said, with a wry grin. "But I think you don't realize it's you that makes everything you wear sexy, not the other way round."

"Huh? Did I say all that aloud? Oh great! Now you think I'm a crazy slob with torn underclothes. Just ignore me." And with that, she buried her head back under the pillow, sticking her butt up and waving him away. A sharp sting on her backside had her gasping and facing him again.

"You stick your delectable ass up like that, and expect me to just walk away? Now come here so I can make you feel better," he demanded, pulling her over to straddle him, stroking and kneading her ass, and pulling down her hips against his, while dropping kisses across her torso. By the time he nuzzled her breasts, bringing first one and then the other to peaked perfection with his lips and tongue, she was well on her way to forgetting her own name, let alone what she may or may not have been wearing. His lips were kind of magical like that.

"So," he murmured from the vicinity of her navel, fingering the waistband of her panties. "Are you very attached to these?"

"No," she groaned. "I'm throwing them away. In fact, I might have to clear out half my underwear drawer."

"Hmmm, in that case..." He stuck a finger in the tear and ripped the panties right off her. Before she had registered anything other than the slight sting where the material had pressed against her softness before it gave way, Edward was already soothing her with his soft lips. His tongue joined in, and he sampled her eagerly, a hand on her hips holding her down gently. For a while, her world was nothing but sensation, as his tongue traced the route to her own private nirvana. When she finally came down from her high, he licked his lips, picked up the torn scraps of pink cotton and said, "I'll help you with that clearing out you were talking about. One pair of torn panties at a time."

She grinned at him. "_S'il vous plait_, sweetheart."

Translations:

_De rien: _It's nothing

_S'il vous plait: _Please

_Merci:_ Thank you

_Au revoir:_ Good bye/ Till we meet again

_Bonjour:_ Good day

_Bonsoir:_ Good evening

_Cherie:_ my dear

_Ça va bien:_ _Ça va_ is used in conversation to ask 'how are you/how is it going', to which the response _Ça va bien_ is used to mean 'it goes well/I'm fine'.

_omelette au fromage_: Cheese omelet

**_Thank you for reading! I may add a chapter or two, though I'm not sure when. _**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed, and waited so patiently. The good news is that I can promise the next chapters won't take 9 months to update.

This one's un-beta'd.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Bella arched an eyebrow in disbelief. "Really, Edward?"

"Yes, _mignonne_. I think it'll be fun. You tell me something embarrassing, I'll tell you something embarrassing... There's no better base for a relationship, _n'est-ce pas_?"

"Sometimes it's hard to believe you are really forty." She ignored his highly immature waggling of eyebrows at that comment. "Why don't you tell me more about what you did over in England the last three days? What about Jasper? Shouldn't we discuss all that?"

"Of course, sweetheart, and we will. But the heavy stuff can wait. Especially since Jasper will be here in just a few days. In fact, wild horses couldn't have kept him away once he heard about you. I don't think he ever thought the day would come when I'd fall in love," grinned Edward.

Bella shook her head, but gave in to the pleading look on his face. "Alright, you want to hear something embarrassing? How about… my first time. Actually, I don't know about embarrassing, but it sure was kind of ... interesting."

"Go on, _chérie_," he said, nuzzling the spot near her earlobe that made her break into goosebumps.

"Ok, it was freshman year of college. Mike was a friend of a friend, and we hung out a few times. He was a nice guy, we started dating, and then maybe a month down the line, we decided to just go for it, you know?"

She stopped to push his wandering hands away from where they were caressing the sensitive skin of her sides. "If you want the story, you have got to keep your hands off me, Edward. I can't think when you touch me like that!" she scolded.

He immediately withdrew his hands, crossing his arms and sitting up, pouting a little, but looking at her expectantly. She couldn't help but laugh, tugging his hands back into her own. Looking out of the window, she resumed her story.

"It started out ok, I mean, there was kissing and that was good. I figured it was going the way it should, you know? So we moved things along, and well, clothes came off and there was more kissing. And it was all good... except, I couldn't stop thinking. And he hadn't any more experience than I did, I guess, 'cause he didn't seem to notice that I wasn't as 'in the moment' as he was."

She stopped, biting her lip and glancing tentatively up at the man who was the complete antithesis of her fumbling partner all those years ago.

He kissed the blush as it bloomed on the apple of her cheek. "Then?" he prompted her gently.

"Then, he was playing with my breasts... and he looked funny... He was staring at them like he couldn't believe they were real. His eyes..." she chuckled at the memory. "I thought they would pop out, or something. Then, he pushed at my nipples and said, 'What's wrong with them? Why aren't they both poking out?'"

She had to stop there because the gorgeous man by her side had collapsed in a laughing heap with his head in her lap, while she had to work hard to control her own chuckles.

"And um... I didn't know what to say. I figured later it was just that I wasn't really aroused, but at that moment, all I could come up with was something lame, like, 'That's what they're like.'"

Edward pulled down the sheet to kiss and lightly tug at her newly exposed curves, causing them to pebble instantly. He smirked as she gasped at the sensation, running her fingers through his hair as he lavished her breasts with attention. They were both breathing a little heavily when he pulled back, carefully draping the sheet over her tempting form. "_That's_ what they're like," he said, with more than a touch of satisfaction, observing the way the erect tips pushed against the sheet. "But tell me more, _chérie_. How did you suffer through the rest of this wonderful encounter?"

"Stop distracting me. Right... So, finally, after a lot of fumbling, I realized he was trying to replicate all the porn he'd ever seen, I suppose. Honestly, I thought that's how it was supposed to be. My mind was still thinking of a million other things, so I decided to umm... think sexy thoughts… hot actors, heroes from my favorite books… I think he didn't even notice when I started to touch myself! Turns out, that was good enough so it didn't hurt too bad."

"Bella," he crooned, stroking her hair back and looking a little troubled.

"Edward," she returned with a smirk, but with a warm twinkle in her eye. "It was actually fine. I didn't know better, neither did he. But for what it was worth, we were both happy, enough. We lasted a whole two months before it just became too much of an effort. Plus my poor boobs couldn't bear the rough handling anymore. Yeah, he never quite got what to do with them."

She couldn't stop the laugh that escaped her lips at the look of satisfaction that passed over his handsome face. She tugged on his ear and said, "Your turn."

"I'm only telling you this because I love you so much," he informed her, with a raised brow. "We were in New York back then, I was sixteen, maybe seventeen? There was a girl that every boy in class wanted, and of course, she came to me and said she liked me."

Bella smacked his arm at the smug look on his face. He just kissed her fingertips and continued, "I was flattered, honestly, and we started dating. Two weeks later, we were alone at her place. It didn't take us long to rush to her bed, and get naked. It was the best moment of my teenage life so far... Except, she was so nervous, she kept squirming around! I did a little better than your Mike, she was certainly aroused," he said with a little wink. "But then she freaked that she was wetting the bed. Once I distracted her from that and was about to enter, her phone rang."

Bella tried, but it was impossible to completely mask her sniggers.

"Laugh it up, _ma belle_. It only gets worse," he said, his cheekbones tinged with the slightest blush of embarrassment. "By the time I convinced her to ignore the phone, and tried again, she was so skittish, I just couldn't penetrate. She wanted it, but couldn't relax at all. I wanted it, but didn't know what to do. I finally just soothed her as she cried, then went home before something else went wrong. Luckily for my very fragile male ego, she came over to my place the next day, and let's just say, things were much more satisfying."

She couldn't help but reach up to kiss the edge of his smirk. "Damn, I wish I'd met you sooner," she sighed. "You would've made for a much better first time than poor Mike."

"I'm yours now, _chérie_. And really, it may be a good thing you didn't know me earlier, as a foolish young man. After all, you were 3 when I was 17," he winked as she tried to pinch his side. "And by the time you were 17, all I saw was work. Women were incidental, and you... I cannot imagine you ever being incidental to anything. You were made to be adored."

Bella could no more hold herself back, than she could stop the earth from spinning. She kissed his shoulder, his neck, his jaw, the corner of his smile, and finally, his soft lips that were molded so exactly to fit her own.

"Show me how you adore me, Edward," she whispered.

"Gladly, sweetheart," he murmured. In fact, he adored her more thoroughly for the next hour, than she had ever been adored before.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

"But what are you going to tell mom and dad?" asked Rose, eyeing her favorite cousin and the man who was clearly wrapped around her little finger. They had never looked so content, in her opinion, but they really needed to figure out how to break the news to her parents, who would arrive in three short hours.

"I'd like to tell them the truth. I mean, these are the two people who I know love me as much as my own parents. They're not going to be upset that I'm happy, but the age thing… Edward, you're their friend. What do you think?" Bella gripped his hand, seeking reassurance.

His own worry melted away at the sight of the two earnest faces in front of him. The two girls were so different, yet both looked so alike in that moment—hopeful, nervous, determined, and so very young. And he was so old, yet so in love. The thought of how deeply in love he was, made him laugh.

"_Ma_ _chérie_, I think that we are worrying needlessly. Yes, Eleazar in particular will probably not be happy. But you are right, they do love you dearly. And because of that they will hear you out. I doubt if they would ever try to question your decision, or try to meddle where they have no right, even out of misplaced concern. That you chose an old man like me will shock them, no doubt, but I would like to think that they know me well enough to at least pause before they try to kill me. Shall we tell them together?"

Bella shook her head thoughtfully. "First, you are not old. Second, I think I'll tell them tomorrow morning at breakfast. It'll give them the chance to grill me and voice any concerns they have. And you can come by around nine like you do usually, which will give them some time to get over their shock. I'm sure they'll have something to say to you as well, but it won't be too much to take, don't you think?"

"I think you are enchanting, _ma fille_," said Edward, leaning in and kissing her lips softly.

"I think the two of you are being sickeningly sweet this afternoon," said Rose with a cheeky grin. "But I do hope things go as smoothly as that tomorrow."

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Bella's mind understood that staying away from Edward for a few days, or even a few weeks was not a big deal. Her heart knew that they were so deeply bound that time and space apart were really insignificant in the larger scheme of things. If she met him again after a year, or a decade, it still wouldn't change what he meant to her. It went so deep that it was a part of their beings, a completely effortless part of their existence. Clearly, they had the metaphysics down pat. Now, if only her body would buy into that idea. Every inch of her skin missed him—the delicious roughness of his finger tips, the softness of his lips, the sensitive, downy skin that covered his muscular abs, the rasp of hair on his thighs as he slid them between her legs, and the smooth, soft skin of his cock. Just thinking about it made her heartbeat speed up. With a frustrated sigh, she pushed her hair off her now damp forehead, and tried to steady her breathing. "Edward," she whispered, looking out at the stars through her bedroom window. "What have you done to me?"

The vast panorama of celestial beauty slowly calmed her, drawing her thoughts momentarily away from the man down the road, who was finding it equally difficult to settle for the night. His sheets smelled of her, of them. Everywhere he looked, something or the other reminded him of this morning. He could see her still, sitting on his windowsill, basking in the warm sunshine; and here, in the hallway where she had tried to evade his tickles, screaming in glee and running half-clothed down to his kitchen; his couch, where they had spent an hour cuddled up, discussing his plans for the future; she was everywhere. The thought made him smile. And yet, sleep eluded him.

Through the wooden door that led from the kitchen to a small covered porch, he stepped out onto the soft green grass that covered his land. He closed his eyes for a moment and savored the soft breeze that rustled through the quiet night. He lifted his head to the sky, staring unblinking as the universe wrapped itself around the Earth.

For years, he had looked at the stars with a sort of bitterness. They made him feel insignificant, small, and utterly helpless. They made him wonder about life, about destiny, and made him want to rage against the invisible powers that gave life, and took life so arbitrarily. He hated the feeling that something or someone else controlled him.

Today, he looked up and sent out deep gratitude to the universe, to fate, to whoever and whatever had sent Bella into his life.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

**A/N:** Next week: a kitchen-table conference.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N:** This little story got rec'd in the Fic Dive at ADF. I may have grinned and blushed and felt the pressure a little.

**Chapter 3**

At eight-thirty the next morning, Bella walked out of her bedroom. This was the first, and possibly the easiest audience she would face, and she was actually quite excited about sharing her happiness with the two people downstairs.

She skipped down the stairs, pausing and frowning a little when she heard a grumble of voices from the kitchen.

"It's all that hag Angie's doing. Her and that spawn of hers. I'm telling you, it's insane to try and move Ben so soon, but try convincing her. And she has the devil's own luck... getting dirt cheap tickets a day before the flight? Maybe I'm right and she is a witch. We already know she's a bitc…"

She heard the scrape of a chair and her aunt's soothing voice, "Softly, Eli. We've both tried to talk sense to her, but she's not listening, is she? Stop ruining your morning. Help me figure out where we're going to put all of them up."

"All of them?" Bella asked, walking into the kitchen. She gave her uncle a hug and dropped a kiss on his head, before wrapping her arms around her aunt from behind. "I figure from what I just heard that Aunt Angie and Uncle Ben are expected in the next few days, but weren't they coming over in any case? Why do the two of you look so stressed out about it?"

Carmen patted Bella's hand affectionately, before pulling out a chair and motioning her to sit down. "Yes, we had asked Ben and Angie over; in fact, we offered to drive him down in easy stages so he wouldn't get fatigued. Early this morning, Angie called to tell us that they're flying in tomorrow evening. Sure, it wasn't a major attack, but we both think it's too early for him to travel. But well, they must have gotten the all-clear, I suppose."

Eleazar tapped his fingernail against the side of his cup as he spoke up. "What's annoying is that we were there yesterday. We could so easily have waited a day and driven them down. Does that woman not realize that Ben should be taking it easy? All these years, she's always been pushing him, to suit herself. He's worked himself ragged, and what did she ever do but egg him on?"

Bella reached over to squeeze his hand. "Alright, I see there are probably years of family drama lurking under there. I can guess this is something that's worried you for a while. Just tell me what I can do to help you right now."

"You are so like your aunt, you know that? I would've liked to rant on for a few hours, but she's always reined me in. I just wish Ben could've had someone like that in his life, you know?" He sighed, then turned to his wife. "So tell us, darling', what's to be done now?"

"We'll give the downstairs bedroom to Ben and Angie and move up into Bella's room. Bella, you don't mind sharing with Rose, do you?"

"Of course not. I'll shift my stuff after breakfast," said Bella.

"Now the only question is, what's to be done with James?" said Carmen, with a slight frown. "He could have easily bunked on the couch upstairs, but he's bringing along some friend from uni."

Eleazar tugged at the sparse hair on his head, muttering something about inconsiderate changelings, that made Bella and Carmen exchange looks.

"He mayn't be your favorite nephew, and I won't say a thing if you come up with ways to torture him every day that he is here. But right now, I need you to think of how we're going to accommodate his friend," said Carmen firmly.

It was at this point that Edward rapped lightly on the door frame and walked into the kitchen with a casual "_Bonjour_." A quick look at the serious faces around the table made him pause.

"So, I guess you aren't happy about it, _non_?" he asked, looking from Eleazar to Carmen, and finally to a wide-eyed Bella, shaking her head as discreetly as possible. Realizing that whatever it was that had everyone looking so upset probably didn't have anything to do with their news, he gave her a little nod, before walking over to the empty chair across from Eleazar and sitting down. "How about someone tell me what exactly you aren't happy about?"

As Carmen and Eleazar filled him in on the unexpected guest situation, Edward casually stretched out in his chair, hooking one ankle around Bella's bare calf and gently running his foot up and down her smooth leg. The feel of his skin on hers made Bella's breath hitch, and she barely suppressed a moan.

"Why don't you send the guys over to stay with me? I guess your nephew would prefer to be at hand to care for his father, but my place is literally a minute away. And before you start protesting about imposing on me, Carmen, don't forget you guys are like family to me. This is a really small thing that I can do to help, so let me, ok?" Edward said firmly, looking from one face to the other. He refrained from turning to the one face he really wanted to look at, because he knew that tearing his gaze away would be difficult, and this was clearly not the time.

Rose, who had come down at some point and perched on the counter listening to the rest of the family talk, now spoke up. "Why can't Bella and I stay with Edward instead? James is such a horror. He's an awful houseguest to foist onto your neighbor, dad. If you want to stay friends with Edward, I'd advise you to keep James far away from him."

"Come on, Rose," Edward protested. "He can't be that bad."

"Oh, he is," said Bella, shaking her head. "He's three years younger than me, and I've known him practically my whole life. I assure you, he is that bad. He farts, Edward, all the time. Or at least, I hope that's what the stink is, because I don't want to even think of what else could smell that bad on a person."

Bella's outburst broke the tension that had settled over everyone, and laughter filled the kitchen.

"_Ma belle_, men have different ideas about hygiene than women do. I'm sure it isn't as bad as you make it sound," laughed Edward.

"Edward, here's a helpful tip," said Bella, leaning towards him. "When I say it's bad, you accept it's bad."

Edward leaned forward as well, drawn by the allure of those sparkling brown eyes. "What if I don't agree, _mignonne_? Will you still lo... laugh at my silly jokes?"

The two quickly leaned back in their chairs, looking away and pretending Edward hadn't just almost outed them at the kitchen table. Carmen regarded the two of them with a slightly speculative look in her eye. But before she could say anything, Rose came to their rescue.

"It's immaterial whether we laugh at your jokes, Edward. I promise you, we will laugh at you in a few days, when you come crying to dad, begging him to let you kill James. And besides, it's not just James, it's his friend as well, whom none of us has met before." Turning to her parents again, she said, "Look, I know you trust Edward, or you wouldn't have asked him to look out for us this past week. We'd be barely a minute away, and we'd spend most of the day helping out here, as it is… You know what Aunt Angie's like. Have you considered the fit she'll throw if you separate her from her darling son?"

Eleazar shuddered. Carmen put her head in her hand. Bella slipped her hand into Edward's under the table.

While Edward was thrilled at the idea, he felt a little uncomfortable, almost deceitful, for not having told his friend that he was now dating his niece. Bella was a grown up, and didn't answer to anyone, least of all her aunt and uncle, but she was still their guest. And maybe it was a little old fashioned, but Eleazar had charged him with looking out for the girls, and it felt as though he was abusing that trust. It wasn't a comfortable feeling at all. So it was with a mixed sense of dismay and relief that he spoke up.

"While it is true that you would be an infinitely more agreeable houseguest to have, Rose, let's not forget that I am expecting some other guests as well." Turning to Eleazar, he explained, "While you were away visiting Ben, I too made a short trip to England, to meet Jasper." Eleazar knew of Edward's past, and immediately understood the significance of this simple statement. "He wants to come over at the end of the week and spend some time here, while we work out the finer details of my return to work, and some plans we have for possible expansion. And of course, my nephew Emmett will be coming over as well. So you see why it would just make more sense for me to have James and his friend over? I have plenty of space, and I might just make use of the extra hands to finish some of the pending repairs to my house."

"Well, when you put it like that, Edward, it does sound like the best idea," agreed Eleazar. "That's settled then. Let's have some breakfast. All this stress has made me hungry."

Carmen headed for the fridge, Rose for the pantry, and Eleazar made his way to the coffee machine. Bella started to rise as well, but Edward gripped her hand tight. She turned towards him in surprise, but stopped short at the look of determination on his face. The confusion cleared from her brow and she smiled at him in understanding. It was time.

"Eleazar, Carmen, there is something you should know." Edward stood up, and Bella followed, still gazing up at him. He smiled at her, then looked back at the others who had abandoned their search for food and were now looking at them expectantly.

He put his arm around Bella, drawing her close to him. "Bella and I are together. We wanted you to know."

For a moment, there was stunned silence. Then Carmen let out a loud, triumphant "Ha!" and rushed over to hug them. She drew back slightly and said, "I knew something was up. Actually, anyone with eyes can see it when you are together. Oh I'm so happy!"

Eleazar was slower to react, making his way around the table till he stood right in front of them. His brow was furrowed and his hands were pushed into his pockets. His expression softened momentarily when he met Bella's hopeful eyes, but it was Edward that he addressed. "I've known you a long while, Edward, and I know you're a good man. This young woman here is… well, she's like a daughter to me. I just… don't hurt her, got it?"

"_Elle est mon cœur_," Edward responded simply. He stuck out his hand and the two exchanged some sort of silent communication in the course of their manly handshake, breaking out in wide grins at the end of it.

Eleazar swung Bella up into a big, warm hug. Just before he released her, he softly said, "Don't hurt him either, darlin'."

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

The morning hadn't gone exactly as Edward had planned. Sprucing up one of his guest rooms an hour later, he wasn't sure how he felt about the unexpected outcome.

He was ecstatic that he and Bella were now 'officially official', as Rose had put it. He was less than ecstatic at having not just Jasper and Emmett, but two other unknown males in his house for the next few weeks.

Bella was here for just another week and a half, and he was really glad that he would have her close by for most of that time. But with so many people coming over in the next few days, he didn't know how much actual time he would be able to spend with her. Still, what were a few days apart now, when he planned to have forever with her?

Forever. The thought of it made him smile. His life had changed forever the moment Bella had stepped into his farm, but out here in sleepy Le Mazet, it was easy to pretend the real world didn't exist, with its challenges and problems. Jasper had already set the wheels in motion for him to resume his place in the company, and though he was excited to get back to a world he knew and enjoyed, there was a niggling fear holding him back. He had lost himself in his work all his life. Would he lose himself again? He was barely ready to acknowledge the fear of what that would mean for his fledgling relationship. They had so many hurdles to contend with already… but if he was being completely honest, he feared himself more than any external challenge to their relationship.

He leaned against the wall, looking out of the open window toward his neighbor's land, where Bella and Rose were putting out some washing to dry. Just looking at her made his heart swell with love, so much so that he felt he might burst with the joy of it. It still amazed him that she seemed to feel the same.

Even from a distance, he could see the happiness that radiated from her body. It was in the way she skipped rather than walked. It was in the line of her graceful neck as she threw her head back to laugh at something Rose said. It was in the way she scooped up a tiny daisy and carefully placed it in her braid. Looking at her, he was reminded of a line by Victor Hugo—"_La vie est une fleur dont l'amour est le miel_."

Bella had brought a sweetness to his life that he had never even hoped for. In that moment, he resolved to fight for her, for them. Even if… or when… he was the enemy.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Translations:

_Elle est mon cœur _: She is my heart.

_La vie est une fleur dont l'amour est le miel _: Life is a flower, of which love is the nectar.

**A/N:** Next week: Arrivals, and _maybe_ a little 'alone time'.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N**: This isn't exactly what it started out as, but then, what is?

**Chapter 4**

The next morning, Bella and Rose tried to bring Edward up to speed about the visitors, but it was obvious that he thought they were exaggerating.

"It's ok, Edward," said Rose with a pitying smile. "You don't need to believe everything we tell you. Make up your own mind about them. But don't expect me _not_ to say 'I told you so' when you see for yourself that we're right."

"_Oui, mademoiselle_ Rose, I will keep that in mind," Edward assured her with a small salute. "And it is not that I don't appreciate all this information. I have heard a lot about them from Eleazar as well. I just find it more useful to form my own opinions about people. You will humor me as an old man, _n'est-ce pas?_"

"For now I will, but only because my sister loves you, _monsieur vieillard_," Rose said, holding her head at a haughty angle. "Now, I thought you were going to take us to Rochechouart? I need to do some serious shopping for mom before everyone gets here this evening."

"And you lured me out with promises of a romantic date, _mon amour_," said Bella, giving him a tiny peck on the cheek, much too chaste for his liking. "There's a café table on a cobbled sidewalk somewhere, calling out my name, you know."

Edward grinned at the two and shook his head. "I wouldn't dream of disappointing you two. _Le châtiment serait terrible_. _Allons-y_!"

The drive to Rochechouart was quite a short one, and Bella spent most of it glued to her window, entranced by the passing countryside. At one point, as the road curved, she caught sight of two adjoining cottages with creamy white shutters, and a shared garden. The far cottage had the tallest, largest sunflowers she had ever seen. She twisted in her seat as they sped past, trying to keep the sunflower cottages in sight as long as she could, ignoring the sniggers from Rose and Edward.

Turning back to Edward with shining eyes, she declared, "We must plant sunflowers at our place too, Edward! Did you see how cheery and just… happy… they looked?"

Edward slowed down for just a moment, so he could safely look over at the woman who made every day better and brighter for him. "Anything you want, _chérie_," he said softly. Their eyes met, and that brief moment held a promise that they both knew they would honor their entire lives, and beyond.

"Ahem. Did I miss something, or were you not planning on telling me?" asked Rose, popping her head in between the front seats of the car and effectively ending the moment.

"Telling you what?" asked Bella, confused.

"Let's see… '_our place_'? Was there a proposal that I missed?" Rose asked, genuinely upset at the thought that Bella wouldn't have shared something as monumental as that with her.

"No proposal yet, Rose," Edward said, playfully knocking her head back through the seats. He caught Bella's eye for another brief moment. "But there is no question that there will be one. _V__raiment_, you will probably know before Bella, because who else will help me plan and set it all up?"

Bella had to laugh at the squeal Rose let out, looking even younger than her 19 years, and so much like the happy sunflowers they had just passed, with her golden hair loose and flowing around her shoulders.

"Are you sure you don't want to come up to the castle with us, Rose?" Bella asked, as they neared the town. She was feeling a little guilty that she was about to leave her sister to do all the shopping alone.

"Oh gosh no, Bells. I've been up there often enough. It's one of dad's favorite places to bring any visitors we have. Besides, you know it'll not be so easy to get away alone with Edward once everyone else is here. Go on, soak in a little atmosphere," said Rose with a cheeky grin. "And remember everything I ever did for you once Emmett gets here." Then she blushed and stammered out, "N..not that it means that I'm going to jump him, I mean… oh shit.. Edward, you won't tell him I said that, right? He hasn't even asked me out or anything, I promise, I…"

Her ramble was cut off by Edward's calm voice, laced with an undertone of laughter. "_De rien_, Rose. I didn't hear anything, did you, _ma belle_?"

"Not a thing, Edward," said Bella, throwing Rose a wink. The younger girl blew out a breath and slumped in the seat.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Bella was awed by the magnificence of the castle, Château de Rochechouart. From its place of prominence, the castle overlooked the town, and provided a spectacular view of the countryside. With its grey stone walls, turrets, moat and battlements, the castle would have fit right into any child's fantasy world. It would be so easy to imagine a fire-breathing dragon, a brave princess, or daring prince engaging in epic battles and spectacular adventures here. The castle's actual history was rather romantic, having been built by Aymeric IV, a nobleman who took part in the first Crusade at the end of the 12th century. The town had an interesting geological past that far predated the romance of the middle-ages, or even of human history—Rochechouart was the impact site of one of the meteorites that had struck the Earth about 214 million years ago!

Of course, catastrophic meteor showers were far from the thoughts of the two lovers walking in the shade of the trees, watching each other covertly in the dappled sunlight that filtered through the canopy of lush green leaves. Peeking up at Edward as he pointed out various points of interest, Bella was momentarily dazzled. This man was hers. She could hardly believe it, and thanked her stars for bringing her to him, and more importantly, saving him for her. There was no denying their connection, but if he had been married… she had been serious when she had told him a few weeks back that she was his regardless; but she knew that it would have tarnished this perfect image she had of him, and she would have hated herself for being the reason for his fall.

Edward reached for her hand, gently running his fingers through hers, grinning wickedly when she broke out in goosebumps. "_Ma belle_, what were you thinking of? Such an intense expression for such a beautiful day," he said lightly, tugging on her hand so that she was pulled into his embrace.

She smiled back and traced the lines of his handsome face—his sharp, strong jaw, his soft lips, the straight nose and the little bump in the bridge that broke its symmetry. She ran her fingers over his thick, masculine eyebrows and over the slightly graying hair at his temples. When she finally looked into his green eyes, she was once again taken aback by the intensity of the connection they shared. It was as though they were not here, not a man and a woman leading two separate lives, inhabiting two separate bodies. They were one; one soul, one mind, one will, one desire. It seemed to hit them both at once that they were not in a place to take care of that desire. Not right now, maybe not even once they returned to Le Mazet.

Edward pulled her closer and planted a searing kiss on her willing lips. It was a pledge. Maybe not today, but very soon.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

That evening, the residents of Le Mazet were granted an unexpected reprieve, since James' friend had decided to drive down the next day, instead of accompanying the Hales. Of course, Eleazar and Carmen had their hands full with the three who did arrive, and were not complaining about this delay. Eleazar, in particular, was glad to have a little time alone with his brother, who he really did not get to see often enough. It was not just that they chose to live in two separate countries, or that they were busy on their own very different paths in life. The truth was that Eleazar could barely recognize his brother in the man that he saw before him, and that broke his heart.

Ben was a couple of years older than Eleazar, but a head shorter. His lips were thinner, set along a straight line, where Eleazar's were habitually curled upwards. His greying hair was a touch thicker than Eleazar's on top, but was cut in a severe style that proclaimed his profession as either hard-assed businessman, or general killjoy. As a matter of fact, he was a doctor, a plastic surgeon. What had started out as a noble desire to work specifically with burn victims had over time morphed into a rather more mercenary acknowledgement of the benefits of cosmetically enhancing the bodies of monied men and women. It had been years now since he had felt the gratifying rush of satisfaction that would follow the hours spent reconstructing a victim's features, reducing the effects of their trauma. The lighter load he now took on paid so much more, and seemed to be an excellent option to stave off the stresses associated with being a trauma surgeon.

Yet with every passing year, his health deteriorated. He was unhappy at work, stressed at home, and none of the expensive, relaxing retreats and getaways that Angie insisted on booking every few months did anything but agitate him further. He wasn't even that close to his brother any more. Eleazar had been inviting him over for years, but Angie always seemed to have something going on that she needed him around for—help remodeling the house; an important benefit dinner that they absolutely must attend; alone time as a couple; a last minute nose or boob job for one of her society acquaintances that he absolutely must take on as a favor. Each time, Ben acquiesced, ignoring his brother, his health and for the most part, his happiness.

Interestingly, this rather uncomplimentary image blurred a bit if a person saw him in the absence of his wife. He then started to resemble more a socially awkward but well meaning man than a resting tarantula. He was likely to shun the expensive bourbon his wife approved for a man in his position, and kick back with a beer. If asked, he would pick fishing with the guys over an exclusive luxury cruise. He had been known to shyly flirt with rather well endowed ladies at a local pub or two, who interestingly looked nothing like his tall, thin, aerobically toned wife. However, he never seemed to consider the life he was leading as flawed in any way. It was just how it was.

Where his façade was for the most part an unconscious shroud over his true personality, his wife's was much more carefully crafted and wielded deliberately for maximum effect. Much as she tried to portray herself as a warm, caring philanthropist, there was no way to hide her contempt for those who did not run in the same financial or social circles as she did. It didn't take a shrink to recognize that she sought validation to overcome her unhappiness and dissatisfaction. Her body language was quick to change around people she wanted to impress, versus those she deemed unimportant. Her voice around the men was almost faux-feminine, bordering on a falsetto. Away from them, it quickly devolved into a sharp, unpleasant tone not far in quality from nails on chalkboard. Irrespective of company, however, everything about Angie was sharp... her tongue, her over-plucked eyebrows, the nails she seemed to constantly file, the salon-highlighted hair she liked to pull back into a high ballerina bun, even the clothes she wore looked like they'd cut you if you so much as brushed past.

It usually came as a bit of a surprise to people that their son used no such façade to hide behind. He functioned on a single frequency, set permanently at 'gormlessly obnoxious'. It also usually shocked unsuspecting onlookers that a stickler like Angie should regard someone as un-put-together as her son with such approval and even fondness. That last wasn't an emotion that looked remotely comfortable on her face.

It had been a few years since Bella had last met James, and she wasn't too surprised to see that he hadn't changed much. From his overly gelled long blond hair and wispy goatee, to his clearly expensive, artificially distressed jeans, James was trying too hard. In a way, he had been trying so hard for so long, that it was now part of who he was.

For Bella, this was even more painfully obvious when James stood near Edward. Edward was everything James had ever aspired to be, but had never known how. He had the confidence, the self assurance, effortless style and understated sexiness that James was failing so spectacularly at recreating. The difference between the two was so stark it was laughable.

By the time dinnertime rolled round, Edward was forced to admit that Bella had been right. James did stink—and not just because he smelled like a dumpster-dweller rolled in cow dung might. Edward did not appreciate the overly familiar way he would try to sidle up to Bella and 'casually' touch her hand or shoulder. He didn't like the way James tried to monopolize her time and attention either. Some part of him recognized that his perception was probably colored by jealousy and possessiveness, but another part of him figured that James had _le cerveau d'un sandwich au fromage_, and deserved his complete disdain. He almost regretted accepting Carmen's invitation to dinner.

He had been stuck making polite small talk with Angie while Carmen checked on the food and Eleazar helped his brother settle in. That of course left the girls to deal with James. Rose handled him with enviable panache, just ignoring him outright, but Bella was still trying to be polite. From his place in the living room, Edward had a clear view of the dining table, and what he saw didn't make him very happy. The minute Carmen walked back into the living room, Edward saw Bella once again evade James' attempts at 'helping' her lay the table.

Quickly, Edward excused himself from a disappointed Angie, who had been doing her best to charm him, and strode right up to Bella, shouldering James aside without a thought.

"_Venir ici_," he growled, wrapping his arms around her slender body and completely obscuring her from James, who was trying to duck and peek around Edward's broad shoulders. Bella wound her arms around his neck, happily melting into his kiss.

Rose stepped up and grabbed a gaping James by the ear, pulling him out into the garden wordlessly. Of course, James more than made up for her silence with his high pitched squeals and yelps.

"Shut up, James, or I'll record your squealing and put it up on YouTube," she warned.

His mouth snapped shut. The sudden peace was startling.

"Edward and Bella are together. I know you've crushed on her for years, but it's not gonna happen, ok? If you value your teeth and limbs, I'd suggest you keep a polite, brotherly distance from her. I know Edward looks like a dignified and mature guy, but when it comes to Bella, that's all out the window. Got any questions?"

He shook his head, more rattled than he would ever admit.

Rose smiled sunnily. "Great. Now that we are all on the same page, let's have some dinner."

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Translations:

_Vieillard _: old man

_Le châtiment serait terrible_ : The retribution would be terrible.

_Allons-y_ : Let's go

_Vraiment_ : Truly

_L__e cerveau d'un sandwich au fromage_ : The brain of a cheese sandwich

_Venir ici_ : Come here

**A/N**: Next week: James' friend, some stress, and some stress relief.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N:** I couldn't write all week, because: a) festival, b) work. When I got round to writing these guys, they had ideas of their own, as you will see.

**Chapter 5**

Bella fought off the waves of sleep that threatened to engulf her. She forced her eyes open, focusing on the page before her. Not five seconds later, the words were swimming in front of her eyes, melding into one another and creating new words, with new meanings. She was being carried away once again, and there was nothing she could do about it. Oh, it was warm, so warm, and… she jerked awake again, sitting up straight on the lounger and rubbing her eyes. She picked up her book from where it had fallen onto the grass and tossed it on the chair. She drew in a deep breath, reveling in the beauty of the farm in the late morning sun. The only thing that could make this moment better was if Edward were here with her. And maybe if he brought her something cool to drink. Oh, she could just imagine the sound of the ice cubes clinking against each other, the cold radiating off the glass… the warmth of his lips as he tried to steal an ice cube from her lips. Bella shook her head and sighed. The things she wanted to do to that man.

She had been a little disappointed when he left her with a chaste kiss after dinner last night. She had been pretty upset when he told her he would be out all morning. She had been ready to burst with indignation when she realized that he would be taking James and Angie around and showing them a few sights. But before she could express her extreme discontent, he had taken the wind out of her sails.

"_Chérie_," he said with a slight smile, "a lot has happened in the last few days… with us, and with your family. I just want you to take a little time to relax. Read a book, laze in the sunlight. Before you know it, there'll be a ton of people here, and the peace of our sleepy little village will seem like a dream."

"So stay and help me relax. Why do you need to take them?" she protested. "They aren't your responsibility, Edward. You're already doing more than enough, letting James stay at your place."

Edward's smile dipped for a moment. "_Ma belle_, I know they aren't my responsibility. But try and understand. Other than my cousin Elizabeth and her family... Emmett's family… I don't really have anyone anymore. I didn't even realize earlier how much I miss the feeling, the excitement of having people visit, the warmth of receiving a Christmas card, even the irritation at annoying relatives who overstay their welcome. More than anything, I crave the feeling of belonging, of being family. I want to do this, to be part of a family again. I want to be part of your family, _mon cœur_."

Bella sighed and kissed the hollow of his throat. "How am I supposed to say no to that? Although," she said, cocking an eyebrow at him, "You do know I'm not really related to them, right? James is Rose's cousin, not mine."

"Yes, _chérie_, but they are still family," he laughed. "You shouldn't protest so much, though. I'm giving you fair warning, I will probably come home completely frustrated. You'll have your job cut out, relieving that stress, making me fit for human company again."

She couldn't help but laugh at his theatrical leer. He swooped in and gave her one last kiss before winking and walking away towards James.

Even now, the memory of his wicked grin made her smile. An overwhelming feeling of love and tenderness washed over her as she thought back to his words from last night. He wanted a family. Did that mean he was thinking of marriage? Would he want children? Could this really work out the way they thought it would? Even with her own uncertainties and fears, she couldn't help but feel amazed at her luck.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Edward drove James and Angie to Rochechouart (which was not half as beautiful without Bella), and around St. Junien before heading home. They didn't seem to have much appreciation for natural beauty, but Angie did fawn over his car, while James openly drooled over the pretty French girls.

It took Edward all of ten minutes to realize that James loved to talk about himself. When he took a breather, his doting mother would chip in with random facts about the life and times of her son, _Monsieur le puant_. It was torture. It was pain. Edward wondered if he had grown a masochistic gene in the last year or so, to have volunteered for this.

"You understand, I could have studied further, but it isn't what I'm made for, you know? There's so much more to my life than all that," James said, waving his hand about. They were both sitting at a café table on the sidewalk at St. Junien, waiting for Angie to finish shopping. "I want to do something for society. Make the world a better place. Spread the love."

"_Très bien_," replied Edward, trying not to roll his eyes. "And how have you decided to do that?"

"Look at me," James exclaimed, loud enough that people passing by the café turned to stare. "I _am_ a gift to the world. I have been modeling, well nothing serious so far, but one can't be too careful… pick the best campaigns, that's my plan." Flexing his biceps, he struck a pose. "You might have seen me in the magazines. I've worked in a few films as well. Nothing serious yet, just getting a feel of it, you now. Well, I'll be candid; I've been in the crowd scenes in three films so far. But I _almost_ have an agent, and he's positive I can get a speaking part soon. I've been working out, too, so maybe I can go shirtless."

Edward didn't know whether to laugh at him or be appalled at his apparent sincerity. If he had been feeling more compassionate, he would probably have sensed that James' desperation to be heard, accepted and noticed sprang from his insecurity and general unhappiness, but at that point, Edward was not feeling very compassionate.

Just then, Angie returned, and Edward gladly herded them back to the car. Unfortunately, she had decided to try and chat him up, seduce him, and possibly have a holiday fling while her husband recuperated. That he was dating Bella had been blatantly obvious to everyone the other night, except for her. The fact that Edward was not interested didn't seem to register in the light of day either. She insisted on sitting up front with him, and used every opportunity to lean over and 'casually' touch his shoulder or hand. She simpered, she tittered, she tried to flash more cleavage than she probably should have, with her son in the back seat.

Edward briefly considered stopping the car on a lonely stretch of road and dumping them both there. That mental image cheered him up so much, he barely noticed their incessant chatter. It hadn't been his favorite way to spend a morning, but by the time they started back home, he did feel that he had managed to find a way to tune out the annoying bits without being completely anti-social. Just like authentic family behavior, he told himself, mentally patting his own back. About five minutes later, his newfound peace was shattered by unearthly moaning from the backseat. James had suddenly decided that riding in the back made him carsick.

"_Merde_," murmured Edward, slowing the car and pulling it over at the side of the road. "_Madame_ Hale, perhaps he will feel better sitting up front."

James moaned in agreement. Angie grumbled, but maternal feeling made a brief appearance and she gave James her seat. Edward shook his head and once again savored the mental image of abandoning them both right there, as he sped away.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

"Jasper, I swear I am not exaggerating. I honestly don't understand how a man of 23 can get away with acting like he's 15. And spoilt! _Mon Dieu_, how has no one taken him aside and slapped some sense into him?" Edward paced from one end of his room to the other, gesticulating wildly, not even trying to keep in his utter exasperation. "And he's not the worst of them. His mother is such a complete _salope_. Her husband and son were right there at the table, and she was trying to hit on me. And this morning? I tell you, she would have violated me given half a chance. Ugh, it was... stop laughing!"

Jasper took pity on his friend and controlled his mirth. "Ah, I'm sorry, man. But that is hilarious! How did you manage to go from hermit to tour guide in a week? You sure you're feeling alright? Maybe you should get checked up... sounds like it messed with your brain to finally have sex after all this time."

"Fuck you," replied Edward succinctly. "The place has become a damned circus, and there's more to come. The least you can do is hurry up and get here, give me some moral support."

"Alright, alright, I'm leaving this evening, so I'll probably stop somewhere near Tours for a few hours at night. Tomorrow, I'll be back in merry little Le Mazet to watch the fun unfold. Hey, you want me to pretend to be your lover so Angie stays away?" asked Jasper, only half joking. In a more serious tone, he continued, "Seriously though, Ed—I get what it means for you to be part of this whole family scene, but you're going overboard. Helping out Eli once in a while is ok, but you don't need to volunteer away your peace of mind. And Bella's there for just another week, right? Don't waste that time on anyone else, man."

Edward sighed and leaned his head against the window frame. "Maybe you're right. In fact, the minute you get here, I'm abducting Bella and holing up in my room for the rest of the week. You can take care of everything else. You've got plenty of experience of that already, haven't you?"

It was hard to miss the trace of bitterness that had crept into Edward's voice. Jasper sighed. "Alright, man, I get that you need to do this stuff yourself. I do. And I'm really happy you're back to living again. All this anger, frustration, it's all good, cause they're real emotions. So you do what you feel you got to do, but just know that I'm here when you need me. Or when you need Bella. You know."

Edward sputtered out a laugh at Jasper's sudden shift from serious to absurd. Some things never changed, and he'd be lying if that didn't comfort him. Jasper knew him through and through, and never shied away from saying it as he saw it. So maybe he had gone a little overboard with being helpful, and maybe he should stop a moment and talk to Bella before volunteering again.

Just thinking of her brought on an overwhelming need to be close to her. Edward quickly ended his call with Jasper. He needed Bella.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Needing was so far from getting at the moment, that Bella was ready to pull her hair out in frustration. After an admittedly relaxing morning, she had spent a few hours helping her aunt around the house. When Angie walked in a little after 2, Bella's heart quickened. Edward was back! Her excitement was short-lived, however, as she realized that he had taken James back to his place, and would likely only be over much later. Not that she blamed him for taking a few hours to recuperate from what must have been an excruciating morning, but she had missed him so much that the thought of having to stay away any longer physically hurt.

She walked up to the upstairs living area and settled herself on the window seat that looked out towards Edward's farm. That is where she might have moped away the rest of the day, if Rose hadn't walked by.

"What're you doing here?" she asked, setting up her laptop on the table in the corner of the room. She then proceeded to lay out her binders and books out in a pattern that made sense only to her. "I figured you'd be with Edward, so I thought I'd get some more work done on my project before Em gets here. But I can do that later, if you want to hang out?"

Bella smiled at the earnest face of her favorite sister. "Nah, Rosie, you get your work done, I'm ok. Just a little bummed cause he won't be over till evening."

"So, you go over there. You know where he lives," said Rose in a matter-of-fact voice that was belied by her suggestive eyebrow waggle.

Bella sat up straight with a jerk, banging her head on the wood frame. Clutching her head, but laughing, she grabbed Rose in a big hug before dashing into their bedroom to change into something pretty. Rose was right. Why should she wait for him when she could just find him on her own?

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Edward was at that moment standing in his living room gaping at James.

"So since Vic will be reaching soon, I thought I'd make the place more girl-friendly. Girls like flowers, don't they?"

Edward opened and shut his mouth a few times before he spoke. "So, not only did you invite someone over to someone else's place without a by-your-leave, you forgot to mention that it's a girl. And now you think it's ok to scatter _weeds_ around my living room?"

His voice held an undertone of anger so palpable that it actually managed to pierce the thick fog around James' head. He nervously shuffled his feet and stammered, "Er.. you don't… umm.. don't you like flowers?"

"You will get rid of these weeds right away. You will then clean up the other guest room for her." The finality in his voice did not invite discussion, but James didn't seem to know how to take a hint.

"But I invited her, we'll share…"

Edward cut off his bleating with a decisive, "My house, my rules. You are welcome to leave, but as long as you are here, you will respect my wishes. Start behaving like an adult and I will see about treating you like one, _tu comprends_? _Bien._"

Leaving James standing stock still in the living room, Edward walked out of the house. No sooner had he stepped out, than he saw Angie peek out of one of the windows of Eleazar's cottage, looking towards his house. Rather than be seen and forced to endure her company again, Edward gracefully ducked into the cover of the bushes that lined his land, and crawled along till he knew he was out of her line of sight.

He was just contemplating standing up and cutting across by the barn at the back of his house, when he heard a slight rustling sound over to his right. He cautiously raised his head just enough to look over the bushes, mentally bracing for another unwelcome obstacle on his quest to reach Bella.

A wide, relieved grin spread over his features as he stood up and hurried over to where she had just hopped over the low hedge. She was a vision in a simple, brightly patterned cotton sundress, her beautiful hair untied. She pursed her lips, trying to hold in a laugh when she saw him pop up from behind the hedge, brushing off the grass from his hands and clothes.

"Are you a wood sprite pretending to be my love?" she teased, giggling softly as he gathered her in his arms and covered her face and neck with small, tender kisses.

"I'll be anything you want, _ma belle_, as long as you are mine," he mumbled in between kisses. "I cannot tell you how much I need you."

"Yes, Edward!" she gasped as he grazed his teeth against the sensitive skin of her clavicle.

"_Je t'aime plus que ma vie_," he said, pulling back and gazing into her eyes.

She smiled back and was just leaning in to kiss him again, when they were startled apart by the sound of Angie's high pitched, grating voice, followed by Carmen's softer tones.

It was as though they had just realized that they were out in the open.

"James is in there," said Edward, pointing to his house. "The car?"

Bella shook her head. "It's out front, someone will see."

Desperate, Edward grabbed her hand and pulled her along to the old barn. The tall double doors stood open, but faced away from both his and Eleazar's houses. It was as private a place as they'd find, right then. The moment they stepped over the threshold, they clung to each other, desperate.

Edward was immersed in the taste and feel of Bella, and he did not want to leave their little bubble. He was starved for her touch, her taste, desperate to feel her beautiful body around him, hungry for the love he had grown addicted to seeing in her eyes.

He pushed his long fingers into her silky brown hair, gently rubbing his fingertips over her scalp. This elicited a low moan from her kiss-swollen lips, and made her fingers curl, lightly scratching as she moved her hands over his back.

He licked and nipped along her neck, nuzzling in the soft spot just behind her earlobe. She pressed closer, her body rubbing up against his, seeking friction in the best way possible.

His hands moved to frame her face tenderly, as his lips made their way back to hers. Her hands dipped and circled under the waistband of his jeans, stroking the sensitive skin that covered his hips.

He gasped and shifted, trying instinctively to bring her hand closer to his straining erection. She moved her hands to his back pockets, firmly pulling him forward, into her willing, waiting body.

He had to have her. Right here, right now, in this dirty old barn, on the dirt floor, with the door wide open. He didn't care about anything anymore, but the warmth and the need that radiated off both of them.

"Bella," he panted, stealing another kiss and sliding his hand down to her thigh. His hand dipped under fabric, and stroked up her bare leg, pulling up the hem of her light sundress. "I need you… please… _je vais devenir fou_," he groaned.

Rather than pull him back from his insanity, she facilitated it, raising her hands so that he could pull the dress off her completely. It was the work of a moment to rid him of his shirt and jeans. They paused, just taking a moment to look at the other.

Bella stood there in her simple cotton bra and panties, with not a lick of make up on, and her hair a mess from his wandering fingers. A feeling of absolute rightness flooded her, making goosebumps rise on her body. She had never felt so free before—free to love someone without fear of being rebuffed or misunderstood, free to look, and touch his body till she knew it better than her own, free to take him in the middle of the afternoon, uncaring of anyone or anything around them.

"Edward," she said with a smile. "My Edward." She reached back and released the catch on her bra, tossing it somewhere off to the side. She ran her fingers down over her collarbone, cupping her breasts, before moving lower, pushing her panties down over her hips. She kept her eyes trained on his face as she bent to take them off, noticing how his eyes followed the sway of her breasts as she bent, and the line of her legs as she straightened. She saw how his breathing grew shallow, how his fingers twitched, as though eager to reach out to her, and how his erection grew to the point where it was pushing out the waistband of his boxers.

She couldn't wait another moment, and neither could he. The next few minutes were indistinct in their memory, except for relief at the feeling of skin on skin, the mingled pain and pleasure of teeth and nails marking skin, the mounting frustration at having even a whisper of space between their bodies. Somehow in the midst of their frenzied touching and kissing, Edward's boxers had been kicked off, and his painfully hard cock released. Reality seemed to flash by in waves, as Bella gripped his cock and spread the moisture that had gathered at its tip. The sensation of the slightly sticky, warm fluid under her fingertips triggered something primal within, and she sank to her knees, licking along the base while her fingers still circled the tip delicately. Shudders wracked Edward's body, and he barely knew where he was anymore. The beautiful woman before him was all that mattered, especially once she sucked his cock into her mouth, softly at first, and then more insistently.

The pleasure was intense, and he gripped Bella's hair to keep himself grounded, as he jerkily moved his hips in time with her mouth. When she moved a hand to cup his balls, his eyes flew open in shock at the intensity of sensation. He pulled back and gathered her up in his arms. "In you, _cherie_, in you… now," the broken sentences and staccato words matched the disjointed thoughts in her own head, and Bella nodded once, taking his hand and sinking back gracefully to the floor again.

"_Non, mon amour_. If I hurt you…" he protested, even as he obeyed her summons and covered her body with his own as she stretched out on the packed-mud floor.

"It's mud, not stone, Edward," she whispered, licking the shell of his ear. "I want you here. Right now."

The demand implicit in her words dispelled his concerns. He skimmed his hand down her left leg, then hitched it up, over his shoulder, opening her completely to his body. Without preamble, he entered her, slowing down as more and more of his cock was engulfed by her welcoming heat. They both stopped breathing for a moment, just looking deep into each other's eyes, wondering if something this perfect could possibly be real.

The thought made Bella clench involuntarily, and the pleasure that shot through Edward could not be contained. Then it was all heat and want and a frenzy to get closer and deeper, and take and give, and more, just more. As he thrust slow and then fast, deep and then shallow, Bella's eyes rolled back at the overwhelming sensation. She clutched at his shoulders, sought purchase in his wild hair, grabbed at the dust ground for traction to meet him thrust for thrust, to somehow crawl inside his skin and meld her soul with his forever.

As worked up as they were, it wasn't too long before Edward had Bella gasping and crying out in abandon, pushed over the edge of pleasure in a blindingly strong orgasm. He followed soon after, burying his head between her soft breasts, biting down as he came undone, marking her just below her heart. Her heart, which held his heart captive. A more willing captive there had probably never been.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

From where they lay tangled together, Bella could see the grass just outside the barn, the trees that marked the edge of Edward's property, and the fields beyond. She could see the deep blue cloudless sky, almost too bright to look at when the sun was so high. She could smell the flowers, the grass, the earthy scent of dust, sweat, and the heady scent of their mixed essence as it slowly oozed down her thigh. She took in a deep breath, trying to capture that moment, trying to save a perfect memory to tide her over the weeks and months she knew she would spend alone in Seattle. Then she turned to look into his eyes and knew that no memory would be as perfect as the reality of being with Edward.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Translations:

_mon cœur _:My heart

_Monsieur le puant _: Mr. Stinky

_Très bien _: Very good

_Merde_ : Shit

_Mon Dieu_ : My God

_Salope_ : Slut/bitch

_Tu comprends?_ : do you understand?

_Je t'aime plus que ma vie_ : I love you more than my life

_je vais devenir fou_ : I'll go crazy

**A/N: **Next week, Le Mazet gets crowded.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N:** Nah, nothing to say.

**Chapter 6**

Bella was up before the sun. She slipped out of bed, careful not to jostle Rose, and stepped up to the window. The first faint streaks of pink and orange were pushing back the night, turning the black into grey as the light advanced slowly but steadily along the horizon. She turned away after a moment, grabbing some clothes and stepping into the attached bath. A few minutes later, she quietly made her way downstairs, not entirely surprised to see her aunt sitting at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of tea and writing in what looked like a thick, well-worn journal.

A smile and a wave, and Bella was off, jogging along one of the many silent pathways leading out of Le Mazet. She breathed in the fresh air, as her feet followed the path, winding through fields, passing the odd cottage or orchard, cutting a wide loop before twisting its way back towards Le Mazet. She had left her ipod at the cottage; she didn't need the accompaniment of loud music to build the tempo for her run here. Instead, she ran to the music of birdsong, the rustling breeze, and the beat of her own heart. The path took her towards the lazy sun that was making its way higher and higher in the sky; then curved gently away, chasing after the fast fading darkness to the west. By the time the path twisted back again, the sun had risen; and Bella was sweaty, but exhilarated. She stopped outside Edward's place.

It was Friday. She had exactly one week more in this little slice of heaven, and she was determined to enjoy every moment. With a devious smirk, she hopped over the low gate and jogged up to the side of the house. Grabbing a handful of small pebbles from the edge of the pathway, she tossed one, then another at Edward's open window. She could hear the ping of the stones hitting his hardwood floor, so she stepped back and threw the third stone with as much force as she could. This time, she heard a muffled "Ow," and quickly tossed a fourth stone. Tamping down her giggles, she hid under the eave of the window. There was no mistaking his mumbled curse as Edward walked towards the window. She could easily imagine his hair all rumpled, eyes squinting against the morning light, mouth pouting in annoyance.

Bella held her breath when he leaned against the window frame and looked out, scanning the deserted landscape of the tiny village. If it wasn't for the four small stones he held in his hand, Edward could have easily believed that he had imagined it. If it was that ass of a houseguest, James… but no, he could hear his snores all the way at the other end of the house. Could it be…?

With a devious grin, Edward grabbed a stronger hold of the window frame and swung out, placing his feet in barely visible crevasses on the stone facing of the wall. Within moments, he lightly hopped, barefoot, to the ground, looking up at a startled Bella with a look of pure mischief.

"Did you just… Edward, you could have hurt yourself! What were you thinking?" she asked, almost speechless with shock.

He grabbed her around the waist and hauled her close. "I was thinking that I wanted to get to you as fast as possible. That," he pointed up towards the path he'd taken down his window, "was the quickest way down. And before you fly off at me, I was perfectly safe, _ma cher_. Believe it or not, even at our age, Jasper and I do enjoy rock climbing."

Still too scared to be reasonable, Bella gripped him tight and scolded, "I don't care. If I ever see you doing something like that again, I'll… I'll kill you myself!"

"_Bien, mademoiselle_. But it is something I enjoy. I had hoped that we might… well, never mind. I won't scare you again." He placed a soft kiss on the tip of her nose, but Bella noticed that he seemed a little withdrawn. She immediately regretted killing the playful light that had danced in his eyes when he had jumped down, but couldn't pretend not to have been petrified at the thought of Edward hurting himself. So she hid her face in his shoulder and breathed a little easier when his own arms became less rigid after a moment, cradling her with the love and warmth she knew so well.

"Did I wake you up?" she asked, after a bit.

"_Non, chérie_. I woke up half an hour back. I was tidying my room when you summoned me," he said with the smile that Bella knew was for her alone.

"Why don't we go in, and I'll make you breakfast today?"she asked, looking up into his eyes hopefully.

This time he kissed her on the lips, soft and slow. When he drew back, they were both a little breathless, and his eyes were dark with all the wild, depraved things he wanted to do to her. Bella shivered in anticipation… and relief, because she knew he wasn't dwelling on the strangeness of a moment ago. Within two minutes, they were in the kitchen where he grabbed a carton of chocolate milk and she grabbed a couple of croissants. Then they dashed up the stairs, trying to reign in their laughter as they raced each other, jostling and tickling, yet trying to be silent enough not to wake the still snoring James.

He pushed his bedroom door shut with a small click, tossed the breakfast food she held onto the nearby table, and smirked at her as she fought to catch her breath. A single drop of sweat rolled from behind her ear, tracing a slow, tortuous path down the side of her neck, till it followed the slight slant of her collarbone, and into the valley between her breasts. Watching him watch her, Bella blushed, and stuttered, "Oh God, I'm all gross and sweaty, Edward. Just… five minutes to shower and I'm yours, sweetheart, I just…"

His lips cut off her words, and for a while the only sounds were indistinct moans and heavy breaths and grunts and gasps. He finally let her lips go, only to move his own to her jaw, where he paused, looking up at her through his lashes for one wicked moment, before his pink tongue licked a languid line along the side of her neck, flicking at her earlobe at the end. His nose nudged behind her ear and he breathed her in, the sweat, the salt, the scent of undiluted Bella. She shut her eyes with a quiet moan. Why the sensation—and to be honest, the sight—of him licking at her damp skin was so erotic she didn't quite know, but God, it was!

"_Ma petite sirène_, I don't think you are very sweaty… yet. Let me help you with that, and then we can both shower together, _d'accord_?"

There was no way she could say no to that look.

"_Oui, merci, monsieur_," she murmured with a wink and a quick lick of his lower lip.

It was the most satisfying morning either of them had had all week.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

"Villagers! Hey there, bumpkins!" Jasper hollered, slamming shut the door of his car. "What, no red carpet? Do I even have to get my own bags? Shocking, I tell you!" Grabbing his bags from the trunk, he walked into the house, still talking at the top of his voice. "Monsieur Masen, has the fair Bella trapped you in a tower? Do you need me to come rescue you? Fear not, my friend... ooh, pancakes."

Jasper came to a halt in the kitchen, closing his eyes for a moment and inhaling the wonderful smell of fresh brewed coffee, pancakes, bacon and sausages that wafted around the kitchen. Ignoring Edward, he beamed at Bella, grabbing both her hands into his own, as she tried to keep her grip on the spatula in her hand. "You must be Bella! I see now what Edward was talking about. You sure you don't want to trade him in for a much better looking, dashing young thing?"

"I'll keep my man, thanks," she laughed, tugging her hands from his. Deftly transferring the sizzling sausages onto a plate, she placed it on the table in front of Edward, pausing to drop a kiss on his cheek. Edward turned quickly and returned the gesture with a warm look that made her blush. Jasper watched in silent fascination, before shaking his head. "Done for, the two of you. Have some mercy. A bitter old bachelor like me can't take all this love on an empty stomach."

Edward grinned and pushed a chair out with his foot. "Sit down, you old clown. We were just about to eat."

"Thanks man. Bit late today, aren't you? I thought you'd have been up and fed hours ago. I thought I'd have to throw myself at Carmen's mercy."

"_Non_, we were… busy," said Edward in a deliberately offhand manner. Bella made herself comfortable on Edward's lap, smiling smugly up at him.

"Oh. _Oh_!" Jasper stopped chewing for a moment, looking a bit like a cute, blond chipmunk with his cheeks still stuffed. He now noticed that his friend seemed remarkably relaxed, showing nothing of the agitation from yesterday's phone call. And Bella was wearing what loked like Edward's t-shirt with yoga pants. He nodded with paternal pride at them both as he continued to eat, tossing in a thumbs up as an afterthought, as he grabbed some more pancakes.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

"She's a doll, Ed. I can see why you're in love with her," said Jasper warmly.

Bella had just returned to her aunt's place to change and give them a chance to catch up. James was up, but seemed to be avoiding Edward at all costs. Walking around outside the house, Edward had been pointing out the work he'd done to the structure in the last few months, but at Jasper's words, he paused, and a grin spread over his face.

"She is, and I am. She makes me feel... so much, Jas." He shook his head in bemusement and laughed. "I didn't realize it, but I had started to feel so old. Like there wasn't much left to look forward to. But now, I look around and wonder what was wrong with me. I live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth, I'm healthy, I have great friends..."

"Aw, shucks," said Jasper, pretending to simper.

"_Tais-toi!_ The point is, she's changed my entire perspective. You think I would be getting back to work, much less considering expansion if you'd asked me three weeks ago? _Au contraire_, I was ready to sell my shares and bury myself here. Now I'm thinking of moving to America." He dragged his fingers through his unruly hair, looking in the general direction of Eleazar's cottage. "I'm..."

Whatever he was about to say was cut off by the distinct sound of car tyres crunching on the driveway, followed by a car door being shut and a female voice seemingly mid-conversation with someone. Raising his eyebrows at Edward, Jasper mumbled, "Victoria, I presume. Shall we?"

Rounding the corner of the house, the two stopped short at the sight before them.

" _Je n'en reviens pas_," muttered Edward, blinking in disbelief.

Victoria was pretty, with long curly red hair, deep blue eyes and a charming smile. She was a woman of around thirty, and in her arms she held an adorable golden haired little girl of about three. Looking around, Victoria's face relaxed into a charming grin when she spotted the two men.

"_Bonjour_," she called out. Her voice was quite pleasant too. Everything about her so far baffled Edward, because she was nothing at all like he had imagined James' friend to be. She was so... nice and normal. And mature. And a mom.

"_Bonjour_," he replied, stepping forward, closely followed by Jasper. "Victoria, I believe?"

"Yes, and you must be... Edward?" she asked uncertainly. "I'm sorry, but James was not very forthcoming with details when he invited me over."

"_Oui_, my name is Edward Masen. And this is my friend, Jasper Whitlock. It is a pleasure to have you here. And who is this _petite chou_?"

The little girl shifted her head from where she was trying to hide in the crook of her mother's neck, and peeked out at Edward. She seemed quite fascinated and stared unblinkingly at the two men for a moment, before fluttering her fingers at them with a shy little smile, and once again burrowing into her mother's arms.

"This little thing is my daughter Annie. She's three and a half, aren't you my love?"

"Here, we'll get your bags," offered Jasper. In a matter of minutes, they were comfortably settled in the living room. James had finally made an appearance, taking their bags up to the guest room. He was subdued, but there was no hiding the hopeful, longing glances he cast at Victoria. He even made a real effort to get Annie to play with him.

Having seen James in his element the last two days, Edward found the sudden change in attitude more than a little suspicious. While he quietly observed James and puzzled over the situation, Jasper took it upon himself to get to know Victoria better.

"Annie and I are on a motoring trip around France," explained Victoria. "We've been driving at our own pace, stopping for a few days here and there. I'm lucky she's such a sweet child, otherwise can you imagine road-tripping with a cranky kid? But she just loves it! Don't you, my darling?"

Annie looked up from where she had been playing on the rug, and nodded with a huge smile. Edward sat down next to her and watched in fascination as she pulled out a comb from her mother's handbag and started running it through the hair of a doll that seemed to be about her own size.

"We hadn't really planned on spending much time in Haute Vienne, but then James was quite insistent. I figured I owed him that much, so I finally agreed," she said with a shrug.

James looked a little hot under the collar, squirming where he sat. Jasper quickly put two and two together to come up with a very interesting idea of what was up.

"You two have known each other a while, then?" Jasper asked with a smile that invited confidence.

"You could say that," she said with a wry grin. "I got drunk and corrupted the poor young thing on my twenty seventh birthday. Next thing I know, I'm a mum. Best thing that ever happened to me, though."

"Vic, you didn't corrupt me... I..." James seemed flustered and unsure, a far cry from the obnoxious young man he usually was.

"Oh come on, Jimmy, you're a kid yourself," said Victoria, smiling warmly at him, completely missing the look of hopeless misery that enveloped his entire being at her words. Of course, Edward and Jasper didn't miss a thing. "I'm not looking to settle down, and I'm certainly not tying you up before you've even lived your life. And I'm happy to have you in my baby's life, just as long as we don't use the 'D' word, you know."

"Oh, I get it now," said Jasper, leaning closer. "But it's a good thing he invited you over. His dad's not been too well, ya know, so the kid's going to be over there a lot, taking care of him and stuff. But never fear, we'll take good care of you. Hey, Ed, how about you talk to Bella and we get together a picnic tomorrow? I bet little Annie will enjoy that, eh?" Jasper said, not even bothering to hide his unholy amusement at James' incoherent sputtering attempts at interrupting him.

"Picnic!" said Annie, looking happily up at her mother for confirmation.

"Sounds like a plan," said Edward, with a laugh.

He couldn't wait to see what Rose and Bella made of James pining after the mother of the child he wasn't allowed to acknowledge—and whose existence, he strongly suspected, his parents were unaware of. This was going to be interesting.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Translations:

_Ma petite sirène_: My little mermaid

_D'accord_: Okay

_Merci_: Thank you

_Tais-toi_: Shut up

_Au contraire_: On the contrary

_Je n'en reviens pas_: I can't believe it

_Petite chou_: Little cabbage/little thing

**A/N:** Next week: A picnic and a village fair.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N:** Stuff happened. Then more stuff happened. Before I knew it, two weeks had passed. The good news is that on Monday, Maggie (Newtwilightfan) will post the next chapter of Monolith, her winning entry for the Red-Eyed Edward Contest!

**Chapter 7**

Angela was bored out of her mind. True, she had hardly expected this trip to be particularly entertaining, but the reality was mind-numbingly dull. There was nothing to do, nowhere to go, no one to keep her entertained. She had already passed judgment on her sister-in-law's housekeeping abilities (sub-par), her niece's spectacles that made her look like an old maid (the girl had just looked at her blankly; maybe next time she'd shoot a barb at her intelligence), and her brother-in-law's apparent lack of ambition and willingness to live in a hovel. To her great surprise, her own husband had stepped in at that and defended his brother, putting out Angie even more. She had so far ignored Bella, but maybe a few words to the girl would be a good idea; especially since Carmen had implied that Bella was dating that dishy neighbor. Angie was convinced that must be a joke, or a case of wishful thinking on the part of the girl. Bella was alright, but much too young for the man.

Angela spent a few minutes in a blissful haze as she thought about Edward's sharp jaw and broad shoulders. James had ruined her chance of flirting with the man yesterday, but she hadn't given up hopes of livening up this dead ditch of a village with a hot little affair. She could have sworn she had heard his voice yesterday afternoon, but when she had rushed to the window that looked out towards his property, all she'd seen were some rustling bushes and miles and miles of boring green fields.

Her lip curled in distaste as she looked over at her husband. He was enjoying it here, she could tell, even though he hadn't said it in so many words. He'd spend all day being cosseted by his brother, relaxing under a sunshade or watching sports in the living room. It was like he'd regressed to the annoying boy she'd first met in college. She couldn't help feel a little aggravated. All these years she'd invested in trying to smarten him up, she'd pushed him into a lucrative stream at work, she'd guided him into the best social circles, she'd managed his entire life to make sure they lived up to a certain standard, and what happens? The moment he's near his hick of a brother, he's a boor again.

Her ruminations were cut short as Carmen walked into the living room. Seeing that her husband and his brother were happily engrossed watching Sports Centre, Carmen walked over to her sister-in-law.

"Would you like some coffee, Angie?" she asked.

"Sure, sure. If that's what you insist on calling the tar water you brewed yesterday," said Angela with a condescending laugh. "Really, dear, you might have at least bought a decent coffee maker. Or you could have told me how primitive your life here is, and I would have gladly gifted you one for the holidays or something. We are family, you know," she said in a faux-sincere tone that fooled no one—certainly not Carmen, who had gotten inured to Angie's fake-niceness over the years.

With an equally saccharine smile, Carmen said, "Darling, you are much too sweet. I could never impose on you like that! I mean, if I was stupid enough to actually accept something from you, you would gloat so much, you might just strain something. We couldn't have that, now, could we? Besides, the rustic charm is the point of living here. I understand this is quite a change from your 'lifestyle', but surely you can manage reality for a few weeks."

Before a glowering Angie could retort with an even more acerbic taunt, Rose and Bella walked in. Grabbing an apple, Bella looked in interest from one woman to the other. "So, what'd we miss?" she asked nonchalantly.

Rose hid her snigger by opening the fridge and sticking her head in. Carmen rolled her eyes with a wry smile and held up a cup. "Coffee?"

"Nah, aunt C, I'm good. So, Edward said something about a village fair at _Champagnac la Rivière_. Will you guys join us? It sounded like fun, and we really haven't had a lot of time together. What do you say?" Bella looked at her aunt hopefully.

Sliding a steaming cup of coffee over to where a disgruntled Angie was sitting and glowering, Carmen casually leaned against the counter. "Hmmm, the village fair should be fun. Eli and I actually haven't been for a few years—we got tired of them, would you believe it?" she laughed. "I guess we will stop by, at least for a little while. What have you kids got planned?"

Angie harrumphed. "Your neighbor Edward is hardly a 'kid', Carmen. If he is planning the trip then I'm sure he would welcome a little… adult company," she simpered.

Bella's jaw set in annoyance. With one hand on the table, she leaned in and said, "I'm sorry, Aunt Ang, maybe you don't know this, but Edward and I are together."

Angela looked up at the younger girl with a look of compassionate pity, and spoke in a low tone of voice that only they could hear, "Bella, you are a good girl, but still so young. I'm sure you think you and Edward have something special, but dear girl, what do you have in common with a man nearly double your age? I'm not trying to be a bitch, but I don't want to see you hurt just because no one warned you."

Bella just stared at her in disbelief. Thankfully, she was saved from having to answer by a light tap on the kitchen door. Her whole body relaxed at the welcome sight of Edward, closely followed by Jasper, as they entered from the back porch.

"Hey Carmen, you remember Jasper, don't you?" said Edward, giving Carmen a light hug, before moving to engulf Bella in a warmer, tighter, longer embrace. He finally stepped back after a minute, dropping a chaste kiss on her smiling lips. Jasper was teasing Rose about something, while Carmen laughed at their interaction. Angela was sitting at the kitchen table, her lips in a tight line, glaring at Edward and Bella.

Raising his eyebrows at her rudeness, Edward casually slung an arm around Bella's waist to bring her even closer, before addressing Angela. "By the way, Angela, your son should be over in a little while. His friend arrived a little while ago, and they're catching up. He asked me to let you know."

Partly at the thought of her darling son, and partly due to the dazzling smile Edward had turned her way, Angela found her chagrin melting away. Taking in the situation at a glance, Jasper discreetly rolled his eyes and dropped into the chair across the table from Angie. He turned on the charm as he introduced himself to Angela, flirting outrageously. It made Edward roll his eyes, but Angela lapped it up.

Bella was just glad to have the older lady's attention diverted from her man.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Jasper was back at Edward's place. James was slinking around downstairs, evading his parents' questions about his friend, and avoiding his cousins like the plague. Emmett was sitting on the comfortable couch in the upstairs living area, wedged comfortably between Bella and Rose.

Edward had just brought them up to speed on the James situation. Three pairs of eyes stared at him unblinkingly.

"A kid?"

"He hasn't told them?"

"Wow, that dude sure knows how to make a mess, but not how to clean it up, huh?"

Edward held up his hands and shushed them. Though they had not exactly shouted it out, it was still possible that sound would carry downstairs, where James and his parents currently sat. "Do you _want _them to hear us? I know exactly what you're thinking. _Mais vraiment_, this is quite an ironic situation. Victoria seems to be quite genuinely nice, and her daughter is absolutely delightful. The way James is so eager to appear worthy of them is very… different and surprising. I did not think he had it in him. But he begged Jasper and me not to tell his parents yet, and we agreed."

"Oh no! How can you do this to me?" groaned Rose dramatically. "All I want to do is go downstairs and beat her on the head with the 'grandma' bat."

"But sweetheart, how on earth does he think he will get away with not telling them?" asked Bella, ignoring her cousin for the moment.

"Well, _mignonne_, I don't have any wish to be the one to break the news to his parents; that's his problem. But I made it clear that I would not lie to Eleazar and Carmen about Victoria. I've given him until tomorrow to come clean to all of them."

Rose nodded. "Yes, that makes sense. Although I can't get over what a complete ass he is!"

Edward chuckled at her indignant face. "He is, indeed. But he seems to be completely enamored of her. You will see for yourselves tomorrow. Little Annie would like to go on a picnic, if that is alright with all of you?" he asked.

"A picnic would be fun," Bella admitted, though her forehead was still creased with a slight frown. "And I'm looking forward to meeting the little kid; she sounds adorable. But I'm not entirely sure I like the sound of this woman. If she isn't interested in James, what's she doing here?"

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Bella's sense of foreboding didn't go away all evening, though she did manage to put it aside briefly at bedtime to listen to Rose gush about Emmett. She had to admit that Edward's nephew seemed to be a really nice guy. Plus, he was fun, in a quiet sort of way. It had been a quite hilarious watching him and Rose interact earlier that evening, all shy glances and secret smiles. He wasn't as classically good looking as Edward, but he was attractive in his own way. While Rose was all starry eyed about his dimples, and how tall he was, and how muscular he'd gotten over the last few months, what really stood out for Bella was his personality—he was one of the happiest, most straightforward people she had met. Add his intelligence to the mix, and he really was perfect for Rose.

The trouble was that Angela had decided that he was perfect for Bella. When the guys went to return to Edward's place, Angela insisted that Emmett stay for dinner. She commented that Bella probably found it easier to talk to Emmett because "they belonged to the same decade." She suggested that they should sit together at the table. She insinuated that sparks flew every time Emmett looked at Bella. She basically made dinner hell.

The saving grace that stopped the evening from going completely south was, of course, Rose. The younger girl listened to everything her aunt spewed, then commented with a straight face, "I don't know, Aunt Angie. We all tend to go for older men around here. I guess you just couldn't pass on the cougar gene to us."

That shut Angela up long enough for Rose, Bella and Emmett to escape, sniggering as they saw Carmen glaring at her sister-in-law.

Still, the constant drip of Angela's acid was starting to corrode Bella's shield of happiness. The only person who could soothe her right now was Edward, and he was tied up with a house full of guests. For the hundredth time, she wished he hadn't offered to let James and his friend stay over.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Haute Vienne has over a hundred small and large water bodies scattered over the countryside. For their picnic, Edward decided on a small lake near Cussac. It was a tiny place, with a restaurant and a play area for kids. The minute Annie saw the swings and slides, she let out a squeal of pure delight, before dragging Edward along to play with her. Clearly, this was an excellent decision.

Victoria laughed and laid a hand on his arm. "She is really taken with you, isn't she? You are a natural with kids." The touch lasted just a moment, and he ignored the idea that perhaps she had been standing closer than he was comfortable with.

A few clouds drifted across the deep blue sky, and a pleasant breeze added to the idyllic atmosphere that had settled over the picnickers. Edward smiled as he looked around the scattered members of their rather large group. Rose and Emmett were deep in discussion about some or the other plant they had found growing on the bank of the lake; James was trying to impress Vic by challenging Jasper to arm-wrestling matches. The plan was backfiring, though, since he lost every single time. Annie had chosen Edward as her playmate for the day and refused to let him out of her sight, so he and Vic were sitting on the grass near the sandpit, helping her mess around to her heart's content. He craned his neck to look around again, but he still couldn't see Bella anywhere.

In fact, he hadn't actually seen or spoken to her since last night. This morning, it had been difficult to contain Annie's excitement, and he had gone along with Victoria's suggestion that they go ahead, and let Jasper drive the others to the lake. He was so sure that Bella would find her way to him that he let Annie monopolize his attention for a while. But every so often, he would look up, scanning the area as far as he could see, searching for a glimpse of the woman who was so much a part of him that he felt unsettled without her around. Now, though, he was getting worried. The others had arrived a good half hour back, and she hadn't come over to him. He glanced up again, his worry overtaking him, till he finally loped over to the bank where Rose and Emmett were still examining some weeds.

"Where's Bella?" he asked, his restless eyes still trying to find a trace of his girl.

Rose pursed up her lips and huffed. That got his attention.

"You seemed… busy, so she went for a walk," she replied, rather shortly. Rose didn't have much artifice. The look on her face let him know in no uncertain terms that he had messed up. Now he just needed to find his love and fix whatever he had done wrong.

He ignored the sound of Victoria's voice calling out to him. "Which way did she go?" he asked, and with a short nod and quick "_Merci_," he was off, jogging along the river bank towards the copse of trees Rose had pointed out.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

**A/N:** What's up with Bella? And how's Angie going to deal with Victoria? That, and more, next week. ('More' may be code for the good stuff).


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N:** Nothing spectacular to report.

**Chapter 8**

Bella sat with her back to a tree—she spared but a moment to wonder what kind it was before giving up—and fought to understand the feelings of anger and disappointment that were making her want to throw a fit. She tried to still her mind, but that didn't work so well. She gave up and started focusing on her breathing instead. In, out, in, out… that was marginally better. She gradually loosened her clenched jaw and flexed her stiff fingers. She rolled her shoulders and moved her head from side to side to loosen the tense muscles.

Bracing herself with another deep breath, she thought back over the events of that morning.

She had woken early again, and dashed downstairs hoping to get in a run and possibly some morning loving with Edward to start the day right. The moment her foot hit the last stair, her plans were derailed.

Uncle Ben sat in the spot she usually associated with Carmen. Nursing what looked like a hot cup of tea, he looked relaxed and mellow. Bella could not remember the last time she had seen him look so at peace. When he called out to her, she hesitated only a moment, before abandoning her plans and joining him.

"Morning, Uncle Ben. Up early today?" she asked with a smile, grabbing a cup of hot water and a tea bag for herself.

"Something like that," he said with a smile. "I haven't felt so energized in years. Must be something in the air here."

Bella chuckled as he pretended to screw up his face and sniff. "I'm glad you're feeling better. Uncle Eli was really worried about you."

"Ah yes, you were here already, weren't you? I'd say I was sorry for hijacking your vacation time, but truly, I'm glad for the break. And I'm glad we got to meet. It's been years. You must've been as old as Rose is, the last time I saw you."

"Oh right, just after I left for college. It was a strange coincidence, though, wasn't it? I mean, it was such a spur of the moment decision for me to visit mom in Phoenix, and to run into you like that… you were there for some conference or something, right?"

He looked vaguely uncomfortable for a moment, clearing his throat and taking a sip of his tea before answering. "Right. That's right. So anyway, Eli tells me you are dating his neighbor Edward?"

"That's right," she replied with a big smile.

"I see. Well, Angie mentioned he had a woman and child over last night. He is a lot older than you, so…"

An uncomfortable silence settled over them. Bella was beyond annoyed, but asked in a controlled tone, "Uncle Ben, what exactly are you trying to say?"

"Ahem. Well, you don't know who he might have had in his life before. And a woman and child… Bella, that hardly needs an explanation, does it… I mean, he's a man, and well, men have affairs and you need to think before you get caught up in something like that."

Bella shook her head and held up a hand. "With all due respect, I don't think you need to jump to conclusions here. The woman who was at Edward's place… you will meet her later today, I'm sure. Until then, I'd appreciate it, on Edward's behalf, if you didn't pass judgment or insinuate something so patently untrue."

He looked a little taken aback, but said, "Bella, I was only concerned. You don't know what a man that age is thinking…"

"And you do?" she cut in. "I'm sorry, but this is not even about what Edward is thinking or what his intentions are. This is about the way you and Aunt Angie are assuming that _I_ don't know my own mind, that I am incapable of making my own decisions. And you know the best part, Uncle Ben? The two of you don't even know me. My decisions and my life are really none of your concern."

He huffed, looking a little put out. This was a look she was more used to seeing on his face. "And does Renee know about this?"

Bella's eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me? That's between me and my parents. And why would you… hang on, a minute. Why just mom?"

His eyes went wide for a moment before he schooled his features into an impassive mask. The two spots of color high on his cheekbones betrayed him, however. "Now who's insinuating things," he muttered, draining the rest of his tea and standing to place the empty mug in the sink.

He didn't meet her eyes as he hurried into the downstairs bedroom with an offhand "Have fun today."

Bella stared after him for a minute, wondering if she had really just had that conversation.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Hoping to salvage the rest of the morning, Bella decided to go upstairs and do a little yoga. Forty minutes of stretching and holding different positions left her feeling a lot more centered and a lot more upbeat. How did it matter if a few people felt like it was their business to comment on her life? It's not like they were important to her, or even a significant part of her life.

She frowned as she walked into the shower. That comment about her mother was bugging her. Not that Uncle Ben had really said anything, but the guilty look on his face… there was something there that she didn't know about, and she wasn't really sure she wanted to, either. Although… if he had actually had something with her mom at one point, that just meant he had even less grounds to comment on anything she did. How hypocritical could people get?

Entering the kitchen a little later, she was relieved to see that there was no sign of Angie or Ben. Rose was dashing from the kitchen to the pantry and back, getting together everything she felt was essential for the picnic. Within moments, Bella was sucked into the activity as well, packing sandwiches, fruit, bottles of water, a few chocolate bars, and some cold chicken salad. Rose had even found a huge covered wicker basket to put everything in. Looking at it, Bella couldn't help but imagine a different kind of picnic, where Edward would devour her… maybe under the shade of a tree, in broad daylight. Rose's laugh broke her reverie.

"What?" she asked, wide eyed.

"You know, it's easy to guess when you're thinking of Edward," said Rose cheekily. "You get this silly smile on your face and your eyes go moony."

"Oh, funny," Bella retorted. "Sounds a lot like your face when you're thinking of Emmett."

Rose stuck her tongue out before grinning at her sister. "Well, you should know. But hush now. I haven't told mom and dad yet. Actually, I haven't told Emmett yet." In a flash, Rose was an insecure young girl again. "He was friendly like always, last night, but we didn't get the chance to 'talk', you know? What if I've built this up in my head as more than it is? What if he thinks I'm just a silly little girl?"

"Well, that is the only truly silly thing I've ever heard you say," said a deep, masculine voice from the open doorway. Emmett's eyes were dancing and a dimple quivered in his cheek as he tried valiantly to stop himself from smiling.

"Morning, Emmett," said Bella, once it became obvious Rose was too tongue-tied to take the lead. "Everyone ready for the picnic?"

"Well, I am, and Edward is. Jasper was busy playing with the baby, so he's not even near ready. Hmmm… who else… Victoria is, but I think James will take till tomorrow, primping himself to look pretty for his baby-momma," he said, ending by striking a pin-up pose.

That cured Rose of her shyness, and she snorted with laughter. "Oh My God," she sputtered. "That was perfect! You got his simpering down pat, Em!"

The two grinned at each other and high-fived just as Carmen walked in.

"Oh hello, Emmett. Here to help the girls pack up the picnic? What a nice boy you are," she beamed, patting his cheek. He side-eyed Rose, whose laugh was threatening to escape again, while flashing his dimples at her mother.

"Of course, Mrs. Hale. Ah, Bella, if you want to ride with Edward and the girls, you might want to go over now. Annie is too excited to wait long. Rosie and I will gather the stragglers and join y'all later, right Rose?"

"That'd be great Em, thanks," said Bella, practically beaming. She could barely contain her happiness at the thought of being with Edward again. She turned towards the stairs, intending to run up and grab her handbag. But just beyond the door jamb, she was startled by Angie, who must have been positioning herself to try and eavesdrop. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. She tried to check her momentum, Angie jerked her hand up to hold off a collision, and the contents of her coffee mug spilled out in a graceful arc to splatter all across the front of Bella's pristine blouse.

"Oh God, Bella, look what you've done now!" exclaimed Angela, pointing at the two drops of lukewarm coffee that had fallen on her wrist.

Speechless and upset, Bella just shook her head and dashed up to her bathroom. As she stripped off the ruined blouse and tried to wash off the worst of the stain before it set, tears started rolling down her cheeks. Within seconds, her sight was completely obscured by her tears, and deep sobs wracked her frame. She knew that Edward would go ahead; on any other day she would have had no problem with that. But suddenly, everything from the last couple of days… every taunt, insinuation, and snide comment, just crashed over her. She was unsettled, angry and confused all over again, and she hated it. All she wanted was to enjoy the time she had with Edward, and now it just seemed like everywhere she turned there were people and more people, and not enough Edward.

The door opened and shut, and Rose wrapped her arms around a sobbing Bella. After a minute, she quieted, and washed her face. Rose held out a fresh top, a breezy little printed thing that ended just above her belly button.

"Oh come on B, you know it looks good on you. Won't hurt to remind Edward where he should be devoting his time, eh?"

Bella frowned. "What do you mean?"

Rose huffed and started brushing out Bella's hair, before expertly braiding it into a neat fishtail. "Edward just left with James and Victoria. I asked Em to go ahead with them, by the way. Now, I'm not saying I buy anything Aunt Angie has been spewing, but Victoria seemed more than a little interested in Edward. She pretty much thrust her kid at him. I'm just saying, she could try and give James a minute with his own child, seeing as she's supposedly here to meet him."

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on when Bella, Rose and Jasper reached the lake. Emmett looked relieved and ran to help them with the basket, rolling his eyes and not so subtly nodding towards a petulant James, who was trying to talk to Victoria, but failing. Victoria only seemed to have eyes for Edward, who was obviously clueless, playing happily with the adorable three-year old. When Victoria moved still closer to Edward and rested a hand on his arm, Bella gritted her teeth.

"I'm going to take a walk," she said, walking off before the others could react. Jasper looked worried and started out towards her, but Rose stopped him.

"They'll sort it themselves," she said with a shrug and a grimace.

Jasper tilted his head and smiled. "I must say I hate seeing her unhappy. But you might just be right this once, young thing. I shall direct my efforts towards the bumbling fool, then." With a wink and a nod, he loped off to James, and within five minutes had convinced him that he needed to impress Vic with his 'manly attributes'. In short, arm wrestling was the way to go.

Bella missed out on this amusing side show, however. She really didn't want to go back to where the rest of the group was gathered till she had a grip on her anger—there was no way she would let that out around a three year old. There was no doubt in her mind that she would have been rude and snappy towards Victoria at that moment. She didn't really blame her for preferring Edward over James, because, well, her man was amazing. But that didn't mean she was ok with it.

From where she sat, she had a beautiful view across the lake. She watched the clouds reflected in the still water, the daisies dotting the weeds near the river bank swaying in the slight breeze, and the stress slowly left her body. Away from the noxious presence of Rose's aunt, and the strange allusions of her uncle, she finally felt like she could think clearly again.

That was how Edward found her a little while later, sitting with her back to a tree, her arms loosely looped around her knees, her abstracted gaze looking out towards the water. He heaved a sigh of relief seeing her peaceful expression, and didn't even try to hide the wave of tenderness that washed over him as he neared her.

Without a word, he dropped to the ground next to her, mirroring her position. She sighed as his arm touched hers, and shifted slightly to place her head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry I didn't see you earlier, _mignonne_. But why didn't you come to me?" he asked softly, brushing a kiss over her hair.

So she told him everything; all the insinuations, the comments, and how she'd felt seeing Victoria cozying up to him.

"The thing is, Edward, I've been fighting against my own insecurities and fears every time Aunt Angie has said something. I _am_ scared that maybe I'm too young to hold your attention for long. I _am_ worried about what will happen to us when I go back to Seattle. There _is_ still a part of me that wonders if maybe I feel this intense connection more than you do. That maybe someone older, more mature, beautiful like Victoria might make you realize all my faults. That you might forget about me when I leave."

Tears pooled in her eyes and hung off her lashes as she fought to regain her composure. He shifted slightly, moving her till she was in his lap, cocooned in the warmth of his arms. He lifted her chin so she could look into his eyes, see once again his love and his certainty.

"_Mon amour_, you are special to me. Understand this now. If there are beautiful women around, I will probably notice that they are beautiful, because I have eyes. However, if that is all I wanted, I would not have waited all my life for you. What I have found with you," he pecked her pouting lips, "is soul-deep. You are my person, _m__on cœur_. We are not perfect, you and I, I know that. But if you can love me and want me despite that, don't you see that I too want you the same way?"

She sniffed and smiled, nodding. Then her expression changed, as she lifted off one long red hair from his shirt cuff. Edward could not hold back a grin at her raised eye brow, as she pointedly glared at the hair and then dropped it off to the side with disdain. He nodded and buried his face in her neck, breathing her in and letting her know without a word that he got it.

"I am sorry, _ch__é__rie_. I truly thought I was reading too much into her behavior. To be fair, it is entirely possible that she doesn't know about us. I doubt if James has told her."

She laughed, feeling light and free after what felt like days. "You're probably right. Have you ever met a stranger family?"

He smiled back at her, dropping soft kisses on her cheeks, her nose, her lips. "_Non, ma belle_. Nor do I ever want to, to be honest."

She smiled, her whole body lighting up with each touch and caress. She turned fully, straddling him, and let out a low moan of satisfaction when she felt his hardening length right where she wanted it. She wriggled experimentally, just a small movement of her hips. Edward groaned at the feeling of her warm body against his, the slight friction and pressure quickly turning his semi into a bigger, harder problem than they had time for right then. It didn't help that she was now licking, sucking and occasionally biting along his neck, while her fingers slipped beneath his shirt, lightly grazing his sides.

A shudder ran through his body. He skimmed his fingers down her spine, and stopped short at the hem of her top. Then, his fingers moved lower, exploring the band of bare skin, following it into the waistband of her jeans. It was her turn to shudder, arching her back and pushing out her breasts. He moved his hands to grab her waist, his thumbs circling her exposed belly button, first one thumb, then the other, before moving upwards, sweeping arcs closer and closer to the bottom of her breasts.

Her body was covered with goosebumps, her breathing was labored, her eyes glazed and wanting. She really wished she had worn a skirt.

His rough thumbs finally grazed across the front of her bra, over nipples so sensitive they hurt. She could not hold back her cry, and he immediately captured her lips, trapping the sound between them. His thumbs continued their exquisite torture, as his lips wordlessly promised her greater pleasures. His touch drove her wild, and she pressed down on his erection, moving restlessly to get closer, to somehow get him to soothe the delicious ache that had taken over all thought. Her hands dipped down between them... rubbing between her legs, rubbing him, moving to the button of his jeans, dipping within. Nothing she did was good enough; she needed him, desperately.

Edward watched her frantic attempts at getting closer, through hooded eyes. With one quick motion, he laid her on the soft ground, her legs still around him, her core still rubbing up against his. For one long moment, he squeezed his eyes shut and savored the pleasure and anticipation of making her body bend to his desire, of having her scream his name as he became part of her again. Then he blew out a long breath and gently pulled away, adjusting himself with a grimace, before offering a hand for her to stand as well. They stood still for a moment, just looking at each other, breathing heavily and willing their arousal away.

Edward groaned and took a step back. "You make me lose my mind, _ma belle_. We should get back to the others. But later," he said, his voice low, heavy with promise. "Later, you will be all mine. No more letting anyone else come between us."

"Edward," she whispered.

"Yes, _chérie_?"

"You have leaves in your hair. Come here."

The minute he was back in grabbing range, Bella had his jeans unbuttoned and her hand wrapped around his still hard cock. Grazing her lips against his, she whispered, "Love, I've had the worst day so far. You really don't want to deny me right now."

Edward gasped as she started moving her fist, gathering his pre-come and then moving down his shaft again.

"_Mon Dieu_!" he groaned. He gripped her hand roughly and brought it up to his lips; then pulled her along, deeper into the trees. Spotting a fallen tree trunk, he sat, bracing his back against it. His jeans were still undone, and it was clear that his arousal hadn't abated a bit. "Come _fille_, finish what you started."

Her entire body reacted to his command. On her knees, she reached into his open jeans once again, circling his tip before gripping his base firmly.

"No," he growled, grabbing her hair and forcing her look at him. "I want your mouth on me. See this cock? It is yours, Bella. Claim it now. Suck me with those pink lips. Take all of me in."

With a moan, she did exactly as he told her to. She licked his tip, and angled her head so she could lick down to the base. It was an awkward angle, especially since his jeans were still on, but she didn't let that stop her. Slowly, savoring the taste of his skin, she took him into her mouth as far as possible. She bobbed up and down his length, her hands gripping his thighs and her ass in the air.

Edward watched the erotic spectacle through narrowed eyes. Keeping his pants on was forcing her closer, her warm breath hitting his abs, her head rubbing against his pelvis as she moved her hot, warm mouth over his cock. He still gripped her hair with one hand, following her movements, but not pushing. The other hand he moved over her arched back, over her rounded bottom, squeezing, rubbing his fingers along the seam, moving back around to flick open her button. Her grip on his shaft tightened momentarily, heightening his pleasure, when he dipped his fingers into her slick pussy.

He started jerkily pushing in and out of her hot centre, pausing only to rub at her clit. She could not hold back her moans, and knew that it would not take her long to come undone. She redoubled her efforts, determined to make him erupt before she did. She rubbed up his thighs, hollowed her mouth around him, and hummed. She felt his muscles seize, just before he let out a strangled grunt and came in hot spurts that she quickly swallowed. At that moment, he curled his fingers deep within her, triggering her own release. Releasing his cock, she turned her head and bit him just above the pelvis as she came, completely lost in the rush of feeling pulsing through her body. Gasping to catch her breath, she licked over the impression of her teeth and pressed a small kiss over it.

He slowly pulled his fingers out of her, dragging them over her sensitive clit before bringing them to his mouth and sucking her juices off. Still on her hands and knees, Bella fought to get her breathing under control, trying not to think of how good it would feel to have him take her in precisely this position.

Edward grinned lazily, reaching out to bring her close to his chest.

"Monsieur Masen," she murmured against his jaw after a beat. "Is doing it out in the open a 'thing' with you? Does it turn you on?"

Edward chuckled. "_Méchante fille_, it is you that turns me on. You are my drug and you know I can't keep away from you. If it happens to be out in the open, well, so be it."

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Rose nudged Emmett with a smirk when she saw Edward and Bella walking back together, hand in hand. Their clothes were a bit crumpled, and Bella's braid was now a loose ponytail. Just before they walked into the play area, Edward stopped and dropped a soft, loving kiss on Bella's lips.

Victoria blinked in surprise, James stared in mixed awe and desire, while Jasper nodded in approval, before walking over, rather theatrically pretending to dry his eyes. "My children," he said, "at last, you have seen the light!"

"No, no lights," said Edward, seriously. "There might have been an angel singing, though."

"No, love," countered Bella with a straight face. "That was me moaning. I think you should stick around, though, Jasper. We've got plans for an o-peratic performance later."

"Ugh, my ears! Don't sully my delicate ears with all this crude talk," he protested, making Bella and Edward snigger. Jasper winked at Bella and leaned in to pat Edward on the back. "Edward, as long as my darling girl isn't going to dump your sorry behind, I'm happy. I can't waste more of my life running around you. That's her job now."

"Damn right," agreed Bella, dragging Edward over to where Victoria stood. "Hi, you must be Victoria. It's so good to meet you!"

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

To everyone's relief, the rest of the picnic was far more relaxed and drama-free. Once Victoria realized that Edward was taken, she was quick to step back, though James still didn't seem to be getting anywhere with her.

By afternoon, they had finished off all the food, had explored the beautiful lake, and taken a huge number of photographs. Annie had been dozing off and on, in one or the other willing lap, and they all agreed that it was time to go home.

As they all piled back into the cars, Jasper casually walked over to James and said, "Your reprieve is almost over, man. I'd suggest you just tell your parents and get done with it. It really won't get any easier the longer you wait."

James looked glum, but nodded.

It wasn't a long drive, and barely twenty minutes later, both cars drew up outside Eleazar's cottage.

Quick as a flash, Angela appeared at the doorstep, clearly eager to catch a glimpse of 'that woman and her child.' She was closely followed by a bemused Ben, Eleazar and Carmen.

When Edward stepped out of the car, followed by Victoria and a sleeping Annie, Angela could barely contain her glee. "Hello, Edward. I must say, I'm surprised at you. I thought you said you were dating our Bella, but you have your love child staying over at your place? I'm sorry, but that is just not the done thing. So hurtful for our Bella! If my son did something like that, I'm sure I would be mortified. But no, my Jimmy was brought up better than that."

Bella rolled her eyes and moved to link her arm with Edward's. Rose yawned and stretched, directing Emmett and Jasper to bring the basket and containers around back to the kitchen. Victoria leaned against the car holding Annie in her arms, her expression going from shocked, to incredulous, to amused.

James lingered inside the car, trying to find the courage to face up his parents and for once take responsibility for his actions. Courage came in the form of Victoria holding out a hand towards him—the first time she had done so since she had arrived. He stepped out at last, squared his shoulders, and faced his parents.

"Mom, dad, I'd like you to meet my friend, Victoria. And this is Annie, ummm… our child."

There was a strange choking sound, before Angela fainted with a loud thump, right there on the front porch.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

**Translations:**

_Mon Dieu_ : My God

_Fille _: girl

_Méchante fille_ : wicked girl

**A/N:** Next week: Will Angie finally shut up for a bit? And what does Edward have in store to make the rest of Bella's holiday better?


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N:** Wow, it's been a while! So, where were we? Oh yeah, Angie…

**Chapter 9**

"That's a mighty uncomfortable place to take a nap, isn't it?" commented Jasper, craning his neck to get a good view of Angie where she was sprawled on the ground.

"Shut up, Jas. She's knocked out cold. Did she hit her head?" wondered Edward, helping Eleazar straighten her sprawled limbs, while Ben stood behind them looking oddly hopeful.

"Nah, Edward. I think that happened years ago. Probably when she was a baby. Ow, mom! That hurt!" Rose whined, rubbing the spot where her mother had pinched her. She glared at Emmett when he snickered.

"Stop making wisecracks and do something useful then, Rose," Carmen said sternly.

"Fine. Hey Dad, where are those smelly boots of yours? We should wave those under Aunt Angie's nose, right? I swear, that stink could wake up the dead."

"Or we could just hit her on the head with them," muttered Edward in Bella's ear, making her giggle.

"How about a bucket of cold water?" countered Bella, thinking back to all the times in the last few days when she had wished she could dunk the older woman in a well.

"How about we just leave her there and wait for her to wake up?" suggested James. When everyone's heads swiveled towards him in shock, he gave a nervous laugh. "Ok, that was a little creepy, the whole everyone staring thing… I mean, she fainted, so she'll just wake up in a bit, right?"

"That's your mother, James," said Victoria sternly, though the smile on her lips showed her amusement with the entire situation. "Isn't your dad a doctor? Maybe he can check her out? And in the meantime, is there somewhere I can put Annie down to rest for a bit?"

"Of course, dear," said Carmen, immediately coming over to lead her inside, sidestepping her sister-in-law's prone body. As she led Victoria indoors, she tossed out staccato commands over her shoulder. "Ben, you check her out. The rest of you, scram!"

Nobody moved.

With a slight nod and a wink to Rose, Jasper quietly pulled out his phone and surreptitiously snapped a picture of Angela's face. Bella rolled her eyes and took Edward's outstretched hand, moving to give Ben more room to examine his unconscious wife.

It didn't escape anyone's notice that Ben didn't seem overly enthusiastic about the whole affair. He huffed a bit, then quickly and efficiently assessed her. "Nothing to worry about, she's definitely not broken anything. A little water might be a good idea."

"Right, if that's all, I'll be off. See you at your place, Ed," said Jasper.

Rose and Emmett exchanged a meaningful look, before she skipped inside to get the water and he sauntered off after Jasper, whistling.

Edward lifted his head from where he had been lightly kissing the soft skin of Bella's neck. "Oh, everyone's gone? What're we doing here, then, _chérie_?" and he swung her up in his arms, ignoring her protests.

James and Ben looked at their departing figures, and then at each other. Eleazar shrugged and sat down on the porch step with his brother.

"Go check on your daughter, James," he suggested. "Ben and I will wait for Angie to wake up."

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Dinner that night was an interesting affair.

When Angela had finally come to, she had played the invalid with a vengeance. She staggered to her feet and then reached out to her husband with a weak fluttering of her hands.

"No, I don't think that's a good idea, with my heart and all, you know," mumbled Ben, taking a step back.

Annoyance flashed in Angie's eyes for a split second, before she sank gracefully against Eleazar's side. Ben threw his brother a pleading glance, to which Eleazar merely rolled his eyes.

Angela's die-away airs abruptly disappeared the moment they entered the living area. James was standing next to Victoria, with his arm around her shoulders. The expression on his face was hopeful and excited, as though he couldn't believe his luck. Victoria was laughing quietly at something Carmen had said, while Annie lay sleeping like a little angel, tucked up in a fuzzy blanket on the couch.

"Argh!" screeched Angela, outraged. "You… you floozy! You corrupted my baby, and you're still here!"

"Mom, calm down," said James in a hushed voice, stepping towards her quickly, with a worried glance at where Annie twitched slightly in her sleep. "Annie will wake up. And Vic isn't a … a floozy. Come on, calm down, sit down and I'll tell you everything."

Angela gasped. "James, I will not calm down. And I will certainly not sit down and talk, while that woman…"

"Angie," said Ben sharply, speaking up at last. "Let's go in and talk about this as a family. The three of us." He side eyed Victoria as he said this, but she seemed to be watching the scene with an expression of morbid fascination, rather than embarrassment or affront.

Eleazar immediately tightened his grasp on Angela's arm, and practically frog-marched her into the bedroom. Ben followed, but James looked back at Annie and then Victoria. He looked torn—the weak boy he was, warring with the man he wanted to appear before the mother of his child. Her clearly amused smile and encouraging head nod seemed to give him some reassurance, and he too entered the bedroom.

Carmen and Victoria could hear the low buzz of voices, and Angela's high pitched exclamation, "My own son! How could you?" before Eleazar quickly stepped out, shutting the door behind him.

An hour later, Rose and Emmett walked into the kitchen, to see Annie perched on Eleazar's knee, while Carmen sat next to them, helping her form dough figures. Victoria sat on the other side of the table, laughing and chatting with them as though she had known them all her life.

Annie was the first to notice the newcomers, and beamed up at them happily. "Animals," she declared, with a gap-toothed grin.

Emmett's eyes went comically wide, and Rose seemed to go a little pink, even as she needlessly smoothed down her hair.

"Ani… animals?" stuttered Emmett, looking ready to pass out.

Annie happily picked up a little lump of dough and waved it at him. "Dog." She picked another misshapen lump. "Cat."

"Oh, animals," said Rose, on a relieved exhale, stepping forward to examine Annie's handiwork closely. "Wow, Annie, there are lovely! Did you make them yourself?"

She caught Emmett's eye, and for a moment, their faces held identical sheepish expressions. Carmen didn't miss the exchange, but filed it away for later discussion with her daughter.

"Are the others coming over for dinner?" she asked instead.

"Nope, it's just us tonight," replied Emmett, sitting next to Victoria and poking dubiously at the dough. "Jasper had some work calls to make really early in the morning, so he's turning in early, and Edward said he wanted to surprise Bella, or something. With those two, I find it's better not to try to get any details."

"Yeah," said Rose with a theatrical shudder. "Speaking of details, though… I want some, about what went down here while we were away. Is Aunt Angie ok? When did she wake up? What did she say? Where are they all? Did she kill James?" She seemed almost hopeful about that last one.

"Uh, no, no one's killed anyone. They've been in there about an hour already, though the shouting and screaming seems to have died down in the last half hour," said Carmen.

"Okay, and…?" Rose pressed, sure there had to be more, knowing Angie.

"And she has quite a colorful vocabulary," Victoria sniggered.

Rose nodded sagely. "Yes, doesn't she? You dodged a bullet, you know. Imagine if you'd have agreed to more with James, she'd be your prospective mom-in-law."

Victoria smiled, but shook her head. "Jimmy isn't so bad. Seeing his parents… I'm sorry Eleazar, it's your brother, but… it just helps me understand James a lot better. I still don't know how this will all work out, or if they will ever want anything to do with Annie, but I've never regretted having James as part of the equation."

Carmen stopped whatever Rose was about to say with a sharp look, and turned to Victoria with a warm smile. "He's different around the two of you, and you should know that." She shared a look with Eleazar, before continuing. "And you're right, there's no telling if they will ever come around. But Eli and I would love to be there for the two of you. Think of us as an extra pair of grandparents for Annie, if you like."

Victoria's face was flushed with emotion, but before she could speak, the door to the bedroom opened and James and Ben walked out. Ben looked unperturbed, and sat down next to his brother. James, however, looked like he had been put through the wringer. His normally greased-down hair was sticking up oddly, as though he had tried to run his fingers through it, or clutched at it in frustration, but thanks to the copious amounts of product in it, had only succeeded in making himself look deranged.

Emmett bit his quivering lip to prevent the laughter bubbling in his chest from escaping. Rose, after one quick, incredulous look, stared at the table with intense concentration. She could not control the almost compulsive twitching of her lips, though.

"Ah, mom says she isn't well, and isn't hungry," James said, on a sigh. He seemed a little dazed, so Victoria beckoned and gestured to the empty chair on her other side. He gave her a grateful smile and sunk into the chair, lost in thought, till Annie offered him some dough.

Dinner was much of the same, with Ben absolutely silent, except when he spoke to his brother, and James looking shattered, except when he made an effort to talk to Annie, or when he looked at Victoria, with the same dog-like devotion he had shown since she had turned up. Victoria seemed a little pensive, Carmen and Eleazar behaved as though having strained dinners was par for the course, and Emmett and Rose tried not to catch each other's eye, for fear of bursting out into ill-timed, nervous laughter.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Edward put the Chicken Francese into the oven, set the timer, and walked out the back of the house to find Bella.

He paused mid-stride when he spotted her, in the middle of the grass that carpeted the sloping land. She lay flat on her back, her arms folded back supporting her head. The sun was dipping lower in the west, bathing her with a warm glow that made him blink, for how could anything on earth be this beautiful? She was a vision, and for a moment, he wished ardently that he was an artist, and could capture this perfect moment for posterity.

He smiled when she opened her eyes and turned her head slightly, squinting up toward him.

"Edward! Come watch the hot air balloons with me," she called, her voice completely relaxed and happy, just the way he always wanted it to be.

He walked over at an unhurried pace, enjoying the peace of the quiet evening after their eventful day. She scooted over a few measly inches on the old woven mat she had discovered in his barn, barely giving him any space to sit.

"_Ma __Chérie_," he crooned, bending over her and nuzzling along her neck. "You have five seconds to give me more space on this mat."

"Yeah? Or else what?" her challenge came out rather breathy.

"Or else, you must forfeit your space entirely," he whispered, seductively nipping at her earlobe. She shivered, and her eyes automatically shut in pleasure. That is why she didn't see his wicked grin, or realize what he was about to do, when he suddenly gripped her by the shoulder and waist. The next moment, he smoothly flipped her over, onto his chest, and slid into her space. She gasped, and then laughed at the self-satisfaction on his face.

She let her legs drop on either side of his hips and pressed herself up suggestively against his responsive body. The minute his eyes shut in pleasure, she rolled off him, pushing at his side till they were both settled comfortably on the mat, with his arm under her head. A little breathless from their struggle, which had involved some kissing, some groping, and a lot of laughter, they now lay watching the slow progress of some ten or fifteen colorful hot air balloons as they sailed across the face of the setting sun.

She sighed. "Less than a week, now."

He rubbed a hand soothingly down her arm. "And then we have the rest of our lives, _mignonne_. Would you… can I…" She turned a little to the side, facing him, and peered up at him questioningly.

He lightly ran a single finger up her arm, over her shoulder and neck, to softly trace her features in the slowly fading light.

"I want to take you away for a few days," he said quietly. "Just the two of us. No more family drama." They both smirked at that. "I want to celebrate this love we have found here, _ma belle._ I know the next few months will be hard, and I don't just want you to remember our time together… I want it etched into your mind and heart. I want to be as much a part of you, as your very heartbeat." He kissed her lips slowly, deeply, attentively, as though learning her for the first time. "Will you come with me, _mon cœur_?"

"Yes, Edward, of course I will. But you know, you already are part of me. That's why I am not looking forward to going back to Seattle at the end of the week. I will be leaving behind a vital part of my heart." She blushed at the intensity of feeling that coursed through her veins as she spoke, but her eyes never wavered from his, proclaiming the sincerity and truth behind her words.

Edward nodded, and pecked the tip of her nose. "We will visit the fair at _Champagnac la Rivière_ tomorrow with the others, but from Tuesday to Friday, you are mine."

"And after Friday?" she goaded with a laugh.

"After Friday, I will grudgingly share you with the others. But you will always remain mine, Bella." His heated gaze caught hers for an intensely charged moment, before he leaned in and kissed her swiftly, but with an abundance of passion.

"_Venir, ma chérie_," he said, sitting up. "Dinner awaits."

She stood, and caught his hand before he could turn away towards the house. She wrapped her arms tight around him, burying her face in his chest.

"I love you more than my poor heart can contain, sometimes," she said, laughing up at him. He gathered her close and kissed her again. They stood there for another minute, watching the pink streaked sky darken gradually, warmed despite the cooling temperatures, by the fire of their love.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

**A/N:** A bit cheesy there at the end? I'll get the hang of this by the next chapter, I'm sure. We're back to regular writing/posting, so see you next week.

Also, as many of you might already know, Meli (Melistories) is battling cancer. A group of writers have come together to write short pieces for her, which are up at 'Words of love for Meli' here on ff. Do visit the page if you want to read some fun stories, and leave a little love for Meli and for the other writers.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N:** The village fair… you know, I thought we'd be done with it three chapters back!

**Chapter 10**

Edward woke early, leaving Bella still sleeping in his bed. It was a bit of a wrench to step away from her warmth, but he had a romantic getaway to plan, and that gave him all the impetus he needed to dress quickly and hurry down to the kitchen.

"Morning, old dog," said Jasper, looking up from his phone, with a quick grin and a coffee-cup salute. "Get me a croissant from the toaster, won't you?"

"You made breakfast, Whitlock?" laughed Edward, pouring himself a cup. "You're going domesticated in your old age!"

"Laugh it up, Masen," replied Jasper with a snooty inclination of his head, and an exaggerated British accent. "Young Bella is going to wake up soon, and it will be my absolute pleasure to show you up in front of her." He smirked and took a sip of his coffee.

Edward shook his head in disbelief. "You think she would pick food over me? You're deluded, _connard_. Besides," he said taking a sip from his own cup, "_ce café est terrible_. My Bella will kiss my hands when I save her from it and offer her the _lait_ _au chocolat _she so adores."

Jasper shook his head in mock despair. "I could try to bribe her with chocolate croissants, what say?"

Edward just shook his head and laughed. "You're up early. Done with the call to Pietersen?"

"Not yet," Jasper replied, his eyes flicking to his phone again to check the time. "Another ten minutes or so. You should join in. This might make a difference to our plans, I think."

"_Est-ce vrai_? How so?" Edward asked, his eyes alight with interest. The two friends spent the next ten minutes discussing business strategies and plans.

That morning, over cups of Jasper's awful coffee, they unknowingly laid the foundations to a future that neither could have imagined possible. For one, it shone with the promise of love; for the other, an affirmation of friendship that gave his life so much more depth and meaning than the limited, demanding, crippling love he had experienced so far.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Bella tilted her head back and watched in quiet appreciation the way the gaily colored bunches of ribbon flirted with the breeze. Against the deep, cloudless blue of the sky, the orange, pink, and yellow strips of satin stood out sharply, flapping and flailing, while higher up, smaller pennants in all colors swung gently to and fro where they had been strung up, all across the town centre of _Champagnac la Rivière_. The breeze carried with it aromas of roasting meat, from the field just beyond the lane, where two whole pigs were being slow-roasted in preparation for that evening's feast. Bella had been charmed to see several townswomen coming together and tackling different aspects of the preparations, with some peeling potatoes, some dicing tomatoes, and so on. It made her laugh to see the teenagers being prodded to help out, when it was evident that many of them would have much rather been enjoying themselves with their friends. The very idea of the entire community coming together to eat, drink, and celebrate warmed her from within.

Annie's excited squeal brought her attention back to the scene before her, where the child was jumping in place at the sight of the games stalls. Bella laughed as James tried to dissuade her from heading for a stall fronted by a handmade sign that read '_Splat le Rat_'. It seemed to be some kind of rustic game, where a small shaggy white toy rat was dropped through a chute, and the player was supposed to hit it with a stick. Or in other words, 'splat' the rat. Annie seemed to think this was a game of rare genius, and would probably have succeeded in dragging James there had he not managed at the last minute to distract her with balloons.

Still chuckling, Bella turned her gaze past the row of small cloth-covered booths selling a variety of odds and ends, and across the narrow street at the makeshift stage that had been erected right outside the _Mairie_, or town hall.

A pair of silvery haired older men took the stage with their guitars. They dove right into an upbeat French song of which Bella could only make out a word here and there, but which must have been pretty popular, going by the crowd that quickly collected. It was a little strange, to see people walking on the road suddenly stop and start dancing right where they stood, but she loved the spontaneity of the moment.

The duo on stage bowed to their enthusiastic audience, and launched into another catchy number amidst loud hoots and applause. Bella's hands were still raised up in the air, clapping, when a strong, familiar arm crept around her waist and gently propelled her toward the dancing folk.

"Edward," she gasped, turning in his arms so she could glare at the handsome man who was smiling down at her with a dangerously attractive grin on his face.

"Bella," he replied with a peck on her cheek, pulling her closer by the hand that now rested against her lower back. He took her free hand in his, and guided her amongst the light crowd, perfectly in time with the music, twirling and dipping her till she couldn't hold back her laughter anymore. It was just another moment of sheer happiness that he had tattooed onto her soul.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Though a steady breeze kept the day from getting too hot, it was bright enough to make sunburn a real possibility.

"But I want to check out some more stalls," Bella whined.

"Later, _mignonne_," said Edward, not letting go of her hand. "I will not risk you getting sunburnt now. We have too many plans that involve… friction." He winked at her wickedly, and faced no further complaints as he led her to a table under the awning of the café.

Of Angela and Ben there had been no sign since morning, but everyone else had decided to make a day of it at the fair. Eleazar, James, Annie, and Jasper had already made themselves comfortable at the table, and were clearly having a good time.

Bella leaned back and rested her head against Edward's arm, which he had slung across the back of her chair. She could see Victoria and Carmen making their way into one of the many stalls that lined the street, but of Rose and Emmett there was no sign. She smirked, knowing that Rose would be spilling some really juicy details by the end of the week.

The next few hours passed at a delightfully leisurely pace, with a lot of good food, conversation, and some excellent wine. Victoria stopped by with Carmen once or twice to check on Annie and nibble on some food, but then they were off again to check out yet another stall.

"Hey, how come French people drink wine all day long, and don't end up drunk and disorderly?" Bella asked, suddenly realizing that they had polished off four bottles of wine between them already. "Why aren't we all staggering around slurring our words yet?"

"It is not a fact we generally share with the rest of the world, _ma belle_," said Edward leaning closer and looking at her seriously, "but we are genetically superior beings." He sat back, still with that completely serious expression, while Bella gaped at him.

Then James and Eleazar started laughing, and Edward threw her a lazy wink. A moment later, he was trying to dodge her hands, laughing and protesting, "But Bella, I have given you many proofs of my magnificence, _n'est-ce pas_? Can you deny I am far superior than any other man you have been with?"

Torn between laughter and mortification, Bella tugged him closer by the ear. "If you dare to embarrass me in front of my uncle, you will never get the chance to show off that superiority again."

"Ah, I would never," he declared, stealing a quick, sweet kiss.

Jasper shook his head at the display before him and said, "You have it right, young Bella. Wine deserves to be savored. We've been drinking for hours, but we are not guzzling down the bottles, you notice? In fact, some people here have been drinking since sun-up, but nary a drunk in town. That's far more likely to happen with young idiots who don't care what they are tossing down, let alone bothering to appreciate its unique flavors. Bunch of plebians," he muttered at the end, bringing his wine glass to his nose and taking a delicate sniff.

James' eyes grew wide at this pithy description, and he paused guiltily with his glass halfway to his open mouth, which made Bella want to laugh. Edward looked up and quirked a sardonic eyebrow at Jasper, but it was Eleazar who tapped Bella on the arm and said, "Jasper would know. He spent most of his youth being as plebian as he could possibly get. Hey Edward, didn't you have to rescue him from a ditch or twenty while you two were in college?"

"Well, of all the dastardly…. Eleazar, I never would have taken you for a blo…blooming snitch!" Jasper grumbled.

"Nice save," laughed Bella.

The conversation meandered along other paths. Edward had just taken a sip of his wine when a hand softly stroked up his thigh. He nearly choked, before collecting himself, and discreetly shifting lower in his chair.

Despite their efforts at being subtle, they could not keep up the innocent façade for long, especially when Bella shifted her hand right between his thighs and started stroking a finger up and down along his increasingly prominent erection. Their wine lay forgotten on the table, and the conversation around them might have been conducted in Swahili, for all they understood of it.

A minute of her gentle, almost teasing touch was enough to make Edward lose his mind. His eyes started to lose focus, and he surreptitiously dropped a hand onto hers, pressing it more firmly against his groin. She bit back the gasp of pleasure that threatened to escape at the feeling of his hard, hot cock straining against her palm. Ignoring the others at the table, they gravitated closer, both breathing out a sigh when their lips connected.

Drinking wine all morning may not have had much of an effect on Bella, but sipping the taste from Edward's lips intoxicated her. She moved their linked hands up his chest, where he held them against his heart.

It is a distinct possibility that they might have continued to dwell in their love haze for a while longer, but a well aimed olive to the bridge of Edward's nose brought them back from the brink of public indecency. Startled, they both jerked back, before looking around as though only just noticing the crowds, the fair, and the interested gazes of their friends and family.

Jasper smiled cherubically before tossing an olive into the air and catching it in his open mouth. "Thought you two looked a little hungry."

Edward rolled his eyes, while Bella tried not to blush. James looked like he was really turned on, but was making a manful attempt not to say something crass. Eleazar was doing nothing to hide his amusement, and Annie sat with her adorable little face cradled in her hands, watching them with a huge smile. "Just like Cinderella," she breathed dreamily, making all the adults laugh and breaking the awkward silence.

With a quick glance at his watch, Edward pushed his chair back and stood up. With a light tug on Bella's hand, which he still held, he said, "Well, it has been a wonderful day so far, but we must leave you now. Jasper, I'll see you back in London. Eli, we'll be back Thursday night." He shook hands with both men, before turning to James. With a meaningful look, he said, "James, take good care of your family." His face softened as he turned to Annie, who had already thrown her arms around Bella's neck, pressing smacking kisses on her cheeks. "_Au revoir_, Miss Annie. Be good for your _maman_."

With that, he swept Bella away from the table, and out of the café. They had taken but five steps outside, when Bella could no longer contain her curiosity and excitement.

"Why are we leaving already? Ooh, are you taking me back to the farm to ravish me? Love in the afternoon does have a nice ring to it," she teased.

Edward laughed, but only stopped walking when they were standing next to his car. He traced the lines of her face tenderly, as he spoke. "While love in the afternoon would be delightful, _chérie_, I am not dragging you away for sex. You see, it is not just that my body lusts after yours like no other. My mind craves you as well. I could devote hours to talking to you… to be in your presence, to see you nearby as I work, or relax. To feel your love every time I meet your eyes. It is your entire being that I crave, my Bella. And I cannot bear to have to share you for another minute. That is why we are leaving for our little vacation a little early."

"Oh dear, what a disappointment. I was so looking forward to the fireworks here tonight," she replied with faux despair.

"I promise to make you see fireworks, _ma belle_," Edward promised, pressing her up against the car and stealing a kiss that made her head spin. "Come, I will give you five minutes to pack once we reach Le Mazet. One second more, and you will have to survive three days _sans vêtements_."

Bella pushed him away with a laugh and slid into the car. "A naked holiday? You sound like you might enjoy that a little too much. Unfortunately for you, I already have a bag packed. So it is I who give you, Monsieur Masen, five minutes to pack… or no clothes for three days."

Edward laughed out in delight, not wasting another minute, as he revved up the car, and sped back to Le Mazet.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Translations:

_Connard _: shithead

_ce café est terrible _: this coffee is terrible

_lait au chocolat_ :chocolate milk

_n'est-ce pas? _: isn't it so?

_sans vêtements _: without clothing

**A/N:** Naked holiday with Edward… yes! (Or maybe no, but we'll see next week)


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: It's my birthday this weekend, which is why I took away E&amp;B's clothes this chapter (for the most part).

**Chapter 11**

Bella couldn't breathe. Her limbs were weighed down, and for a brief moment she wondered if she had been drugged. She had no idea of the time, whether it was day or night. Blood pounded in her head, and she gave in to the fatigue. Her eyelids drooped shut.

Looking up from where he had been feasting between her legs, Edward couldn't hold in a proud smirk. There was no mistaking the look of utter bliss on Bella's face as she slipped into exhausted slumber. One hand still clutched his, while the other was woven into his hair. Her own hair was wild and tangled, like a soft, dark cloud against the stark white of the pillow. He couldn't resist one final lick, which made her entire body tremble and her hands fist tight for a moment, before relaxing again.

From his vantage point, he could see the curve of her lips, pink, soft and swollen from the kisses they had shared since they had entered this bedroom late last night.

He could see the swell of her breasts and their darker peaks, now relaxed and soft. For a moment, he just watched the slight rise and fall of her chest with each breath. In the diffused light of dawn that filtered in through the thin white lace curtains, her skin seemed to glow—the shadows only served to accentuate the lush fullness of her curves.

Overcome by a sudden wave of emotion at the beauty laid out so open and trusting before him, Edward laid his cheek on her abdomen and squeezed his eyes shut. He breathed in, and was immediately assaulted by a multitude of aromas: the musky scent of her arousal, the sharp tang of sweat and sex, the earthy sweetness of Bella's skin. Her skin… it was so soft under his cheek, he just had to rub gently against it, reveling in the smooth slide of skin on skin. He was careful not to let his bristly stubble scrape against her, but he could not resist nipping and sucking at the little indentation of her belly button.

Smiling at the way she squirmed against him even in her sleep, Edward shifted up the bed, careful not to jostle her, but maintaining contact with some part of her body throughout.

It was hard to believe that he had only known her a few short weeks. He would never forget the moment their eyes had first met—it had shaken him to the core. A feeling of relief, as though at finally finding something he hadn't realized he was missing, had taken him by surprise. He had never been particularly romantic when he was younger, so it was a revelation when he identified the feelings that coursed through him every time he so much as thought of Bella. It had scared him at first. He had even tried to stay away from her. But ultimately, the pull was too strong; he had given in, and now, at an age when he had thought he was done with the adventurous part of his life, he was about to embark on the most thrilling adventure of all.

Looking over at the curtains billowing in the morning breeze, he recalled his conversation with Jasper when he had hot-footed it to England a couple of weeks back.

.

.

"So you like this girl. What's the problem?"

"It's not just that I like her, Jas. _Mon Dieu_, I have never felt the way I do around her. I want to move to America to stay close to her. Is this rational? It scares me," Edward confessed.

"It scares you to feel this strongly for her so soon, correct? But it has not stopped you from getting closer to her, has it?" Jasper persisted.

Edward laughed. "I cannot stay away. It is not even a feeling of inevitability, Jasper. It is a feeling of recognition. You know how you spend time getting to know a person, figuring out if they share your sense of humor, or if they have a similar outlook on life, and so on? Bella and I, we spend hours talking, _oui_, but we are not trying to gauge if the other person suits us, because we already know that they do. It is the best feeling in the world, Jasper, this absolute rightness. But it scares me. What if I'm wrong? What if I just have so little experience of love, that I am projecting these feelings onto her?"

Jasper observed his friend seriously for a moment, before breaking out into a warm, somewhat wistful smile. "You are not me, Edward. You clearly love this woman and I don't think you should think too much about it. No, listen to me," he said, when Edward made to protest. "We've known each other for what, over twenty years now? I've had plenty of relationships, I've been married, divorced, and you've seen me through it all. Have I ever spoken about anyone like you just spoke of Bella? No, because I have never found someone I loved beyond the superficial. If you have been lucky enough to find a deeper love, why are you not grabbing it with both hands, you idiot?"

.

.

Edward chuckled at the memory. He had never expected to find love, but once he had stopped fighting against it and questioning it, he had never been happier.

Bella sighed in her sleep and turned away from him, but simultaneously shuffled her deliciously plump derriere backwards, until she rubbed up against his thigh. With a wriggle that made Edward want to spank her, she once again stilled. He leaned over and kissed her shoulder before lying back, one hand thrown over his head, the other stretched out to stroke a lock of her hair.

Fatigue washed over his body. His eyes drifted shut, and he lost himself to a dream of soft skin, heated kisses, and loving embraces.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

When Bella awoke, the sun was high in the sky and she felt remarkably well rested. She lazily looked over at Edward, who was still fast asleep, with his head resting on her hair and one hand curved around her breast. She sighed, and gently pulled away as much hair as she could, before slowly cupping his face and turning it slightly so she could free the rest of her unfortunate locks. It was no secret that her hair turned him on, but she doubted he would appreciate waking with a mouthful of it choking him.

With one peril safely out of the way, she took a moment to study the man before her. She had somehow always found it difficult to focus on his looks. There were always the million feelings his presence evoked, his humor and tenderness, and just his entire personality that never let her appreciate his physical features on their own merit.

Asleep now, he looked younger, carefree, and somehow vulnerable. She studied his strong bone structure, his sharp jawline, his cheekbones, and his rather imperious nose. Bella was fascinated. Even relaxed in sleep, he looked the part of the dominant male. He was the sweetest man she had ever met, but when he took control in the bedroom… Bella's eyes glazed over when she recalled some of the things he had said and done last night.

She bit her lip and blushed, before moving on to study the soft, springy hair that were sticking out in all directions. It made her blush some more, as it reminded her of their wild night. There had been a good amount of clutching and tugging on her part, and his hair felt so good, she loved to just run her fingers through it—right now, it showed. She smiled at the scattered grey in his hair. It was concentrated near his temples, and added to his appeal. Her eyes moved to study the fine lines etched at the corners of his eyes, and around his firm, sensuous mouth. His beautifully shaped, soft lips were an interesting contrast to the masculinity of his features, as were his long, thick eyelashes. For such a rugged man, he had some surprisingly beautiful features. For a moment, Bella let herself dwell on the idea of their children, sons and daughters with his determined chin, those sparkling green eyes, and high cheekbones.

He let out a low sigh and shifted his hips toward her, caressing her breast and making an adorable pouty face that made her want to lick him. Just watching him, her breath had already started to speed up, and the delicious flex of muscles in his arm as he fondled her made her desire flare. Before she started anything, though, she needed the bathroom.

The minute she swung her legs off the bed, she gasped. A sudden rush of sensation brought home to her exactly how well she had been fucked last night. It was not so much that she was sore; it was more that she could still feel the phantom presence of his cock inside her pussy. She got to her feet carefully, and winced as muscles she had never considered important tensed and clenched. With every step she was reminded of scattered moments of passion, and despite her initial discomfort, she was far from regretting anything they had done.

Ten minutes later she stood before the large mirror in the bathroom, brushing out the tangles from her hair, while candidly surveying the marks that had begun to appear all over her fair skin. She had always bruised easily, and for most of her life had hated it. Today, she reveled in the proof of Edward's ardor.

There were small marks along her collarbone, a smattering of little bruises where he had bitten at her across her abdomen, a motley assortment on her thighs and around her pussy, testament to how unrestrained they had been. Her favorite marks were those on and around her breasts, however. She studied the area around her nipples with interest, seeing how the dark pink blended into uneven purple, bringing back memories of Edward suckling hard, biting and licking as he pounded into her, until they had both unraveled in explosive orgasms that had made her blank out for a moment… until Edward had recovered his breath, and moved further down to feast on her some more.

Bella put her hairbrush down on the counter and tried to calm her breathing. She was fighting a losing battle, however. She was much too aroused to be calm. When every movement of her body reminded her of the dirty, depraved things they had done last night, all she could think of was… more. She met her gaze in the mirror and let out a rueful laugh. She could barely recognize herself in the sexual creature who looked back at her, and this visual proof of her transformation pushed her past any last lingering sense of decorum.

She stalked back into the bedroom slowly, relishing the soreness of her muscles, her rising passion feeding off the slight pain. She stopped at the base of the bed, naked, unashamed, and wanting. Almost as if he felt the heat of her gaze, Edward turned onto his back and slowly blinked his eyes open. The sheet was bunched low along his waist, and did nothing to hide his reaction to the sight of an almost feral Bella palming her breasts, tugging at the nipples, her eyes dark with lust.

Edward pushed up onto an elbow, and took his time soaking in the unbelievably erotic sight in front of him. He frowned slightly at the sight of the bruises, but her obvious arousal quickly distracted his thoughts. His eyes flickered from between her legs upwards to her eyes, and she immediately responded to his unspoken command. She gracefully lifted one knee onto the bed, opening herself up to his gaze.

One hand continued to fondle her breast, while the other skimmed down her body till it reached her mound. Edward could clearly see the wet clear liquid that clung to her fingers as she stroked, dipped and circled. He sat up further and flung off the sheet that covered his eager cock. Reaching out, he ran two fingers over her clit, through her lips, and into her pussy. Bella cried out at the feeling, so close to the brink already that she nearly lost her footing.

The next moment, Edward was poised on his knees before her, gathering her to his hard chest as she regained her balance. For a beat, they were motionless. Then his lips claimed hers sweetly, softly, and for a moment passion gave way to pure affection. They parted with matching smiles, before he casually gripped her waist and tossed her onto the bed.

Her eyes darkened as she turned onto her back and tried to pull herself up the bed, away from his looming presence. Her slight movement away made his lip twitch, but there was nothing humorous about his expression. "_Non, ma fille,_ you cannot escape me now," he murmured, his deep voice sending shivers up her spine.

He straddled her legs, running a finger gently over the bruises on her thighs. "_Pauvre petite_," he sighed, leaning down to kiss each mark. "Was I too rough, _chérie_? How shall I make it up to you?"

His voice and touch made Bella shiver with desire, but when she looked up into his eyes, she saw nothing but genuine concern. Then she caught sight of his erect cock, and her decision was made. "There is nothing to make up for, _monsieur_," she said, with a seductive smile. "But if you insist, I want you to do something for me. I want you to come all over me."

Edward smiled and leaned over to position her more comfortably against the pillows, smoothing out her hair and placing a soft kiss on her forehead.

The next moment, the heat was back, and his hands were skimming her sensitive nipples, circling and flicking, making her gasp at the sensation.

He kissed his way down from her neck to her tender breasts, alternatively licking and scraping her nipples with his teeth. He ran his hands down to her clit, rubbing till her arousal began to leak from her pussy. With his free hand, he lightly stroked down her sensitive abdomen, her thigh, behind her knee, up along her sides, and back again, adding to the sensations that brought her closer and closer to the precipice.

Her breath was coming in gasps, her toes curled, and her muscles tensed, as she teetered on the edge of release. Immediately, Edward plunged two fingers into her welcoming heat and curled them, pumping in and out, while pressing on her throbbing clit, and tugging at her nipples with his teeth. The combination of stimuli was more than her body could take, and with a cry, Bella succumbed to the darkness, where nothing existed, except for wave after wave of pure pleasure.

When her eyes opened, she nearly orgasmed again at the sight before her—Edward fisting his cock, eyes wild, muscles tensed. He rubbed his cock against her lower lips—up and down, gathering moisture—then pulled back, his fist tugging hard at his dripping, darkening cock. Bella's heartbeat raced, matching the punishing rate at which he jerked himself off, and she felt a familiar pressure coiling in the pit of her abdomen again.

His eyes never left her body, glowing brighter as she reached down to touch herself, circling and rubbing at her clit till her body once again shook and tensed, and fell into ecstasy. Edward was practically panting at the erotic sight in front of him, and with a guttural shout, cum shot out of his cock in thick streams, landing all over Bella's exposed pussy.

When he was spent, he collapsed onto his side, his head still level with her hips. Reaching out lazily, he ran his finger through the mess of his cum on her body, rubbing it around her clit and down through her lips, swirling it around so that their arousal mixed as one, before pushing and rubbing it back into her wet heat.

Bella was too far gone to do more than watch his actions and commit every dirty detail to her memory.

Satisfied with his handiwork, Edward moved up her body, kissing every dip and curve, until they were face to face. Then he carefully lowered his body against hers and kissed her, just kissed her with all the love and tenderness that only she had ever inspired in him. He stroked her hair soothingly, as she stroked his back, calming and loving each other, till their caresses wound down from deep kisses to soft pecks. Rolling onto his back, Edward pulled Bella into his chest, wrapping an arm protectively around her.

"Edward," her voice was soft, tentative.

"_Oui, ma belle_?"

"Promise me we can do that again," she said, flushing brightly.

Edward couldn't hold back his delighted chuckle. "I can promise that we will definitely be doing that again. Your pleasure is mine, Bella. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Bella kissed him again. "It would please me to have something to eat now, love-slave."

He gripped her closer, making her yelp in anticipation. "Who's the love-slave?" he growled, making her giggle uncontrollably. He pecked her cheek and stood, sweeping her up in his arms. "Come my temptress, let us clean up. Then I will feed you, and show you around the vineyard. "

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

La Maison de Bujan was a lovingly restored 18th century wine-maker's home overlooking the lush vineyards of the Chateau Bujan, near Bordeaux. Equipped with every modern amenity, the little cottage retained quirky reminders of its history in the gorgeous exposed wooden beams, stone walls, and imposing fireplace. The kitchen was fully stocked with fresh produce from the local farmers' market, and there were a couple of bottles of the Chateau's unique blend of Merlot and Cabarnet Sauvignon waiting to be sampled.

Tonight, however, Edward and Bella were expected at the Chateau for an elaborate five course dinner hosted by the charming French couple who had accommodated them at such short notice. Edward straightened the collar of his button-down shirt and noted that they had about an hour before dinner. It was just enough time for him to take Bella down among the vines for a leisurely walk.

Edward strode out of the bedroom, but stopped in his tracks when he saw her. She stood at the kitchen window, leaning slightly against the frame, looking out towards the garden and the fields beyond with a smile of such contentment, it made his heart skip a beat.

She was wearing a simple pink shift dress that she and Rose had bought in Rochechouart. It had a demure, high neck, short sleeves, and was edged with pretty white flowers at the hem, ending just an inch above her knees. It covered all the little marks of their lovemaking, and made her look young and untouched. The evening light that streamed in through the window gave the lie to that illusion, her lack of undergarments evident through the thin cotton.

Edward moved closer, till he was standing right next to her, his fingers loosely tangled with hers. She turned to him with a smile, her eyes practically sparkling in the sunlight.

"Like what you see?"

"No bra?" he countered, with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"Someone bruised my tits," she pouted, before winking at him.

"No panties?" he persisted.

"My pussy is sore too," she said earnestly.

"Oh, that's too bad. I'll have to put away my plans of fucking you all over this cottage, then," he said shaking his head in mock regret.

"Or," she suggested, with a devious smile, inching closer to him, "You could teach my body to take you without behaving like a spoilt princess. Show it who's boss."

Edward let out a laugh that sounded more like a groan, as he held her close to him. When he had conquered the momentary flood of unadulterated lust that her words had sent crashing over him, he kissed the tip of her nose and shook his head at her naughty smile.

"_Méchante fille_, stop trying to push me over the edge. I am happy to just spend time with you. It makes my day to have you near me, to see you smiling. We can use the outdoor Jacuzzi tonight, I'm sure you would like that. I want to soothe all your bruises, and maybe later bring you to ecstasy a few times with my mouth, and my fingers. I don't want to push you while you are too sore, though." He smiled softly at her, leaning closer so that his next words went straight to her core, "But make no mistake, _mon amour_, your body will know who's boss."

His words sent a thrill through her, and her lips found his with no conscious thought on her part, simply giving in to the need to be united with him.

"Bella," he mumbled around her lips, which refused to be parted from his, "Later, my love. Slow now, _mon cœur_." He soothed her, and caressed her and loved her with his hands and his lips, cradling her against his chest as she clung to him.

"I don't want to go back, Edward," she whispered, the tears spilling from her eyes no matter how hard she resisted. "I need you with me."

"I know, _chérie_," he said, wiping her tears, and smiling apologetically when she batted his hands away for spreading the wetness rather than drying it up. "And you have me. You always will. Hey now, don't cry. Do you remember what you said to me in Brantôme? Our ages didn't matter; our location, jobs, relationships, it would not have stopped this love. What's an ocean or two between us, then, _ma belle_?"

"But I will miss you," she sniffed.

"As will I, more than I can express. Some days, Bella, I wake up thinking I must have dreamt these last few weeks, dreamt you up… But then it hits me, I could never have imagined a love so perfect. And for this I will have faith and I will struggle through the next few months. We are meant to be together, _mon amour_, and a few months apart mean nothing if they get me closer to my future with you."

Bella looked at him and saw his sincerity, his belief, and suddenly it was as though a warm glow lit her up from within.

"You really are mine," she said, smiling soft, then wider, giving in with a happy laugh. He cradled her face and kissed her, stealing bits of her smile, and leaving all of himself behind instead.

Their hands ran wild mapping the other's body, and clothes became an encumbrance that had to go. In minutes, they were bare—which took hardly any work at all for Bella, but resulted in a few lost buttons for Edward—and then their lips were searching out more skin, and their tongues were tasting newly revealed ridges and valleys. Skin was the wealth they coveted, touch was the currency they offered, their love was the only truth in a world that melted and spun around them.

He laid her out on the kitchen table, the wood smooth and cool against her back, making goosebumps rise all over. His warm gaze, heavy with desire and love and all the sweetness of the world pinned her there, and made her muscles clench where they wanted more than just a look.

He was careful, and tender, but she demanded more, and soon he was masterful and demanding as well. She blossomed under his touch, and his words made her delirious with want.

"So pretty, my love," he whispered against her earlobe, stroking softly down and around her navel, tantalizing and teasing, until her hips writhed and bucked, wordlessly begging for his touch lower, deeper.

"Ah, you are pink today, _ma belle_, so pink and soft, and wet," he growled, when he finally traced along her labia, dipping occasionally to stroke her taut clit, or to tease her desperate opening just below.

Then his fingers were pushing in, slowly, carefully at first, but her arousal made him slip in easy, and then faster, and deeper, while his mouth latched onto her breast, sucking and licking. Then she could take no more, and even though his fingers brought her to the brink, she held back. "No," she gasped, barely coherent. "You, in me... you, Edward."

She tugged, and he came where she led. His long, hard body covered hers, making her appear smaller, more delicate. His long, hard cock pushed inside, slow, but easy, making her feel invincible. And then he was in, so deep, so full, and for a moment, they just stilled, to breathe through the overwhelming pleasure, to drink each other in. Then she shifted, he moved, and again, faster, till they built up a rhythm of ins and outs and squeezing and pulsing, giving and taking, right there on the table, with the windows open, bathed in sunlight, glowing with the sheen of sweat and lust and emotion.

His frenzy grew, and hers reached its peak. She shattered and cried out, and arched half off the table, nearly making him go cross-eyed with the sudden jolt of pleasure that went right to his cock. He kept moving, grinding deep, and then with a couple more hard thrusts he rocketed off into a land of bliss and pleasure that for him only existed within Bella's body.

When they moved, it was slowly, reluctantly, their every look and touch speaking of their yearning to stay in that perfect moment of oneness.

Bella snuggled against Edward's chest, stroking the light smattering of hair, following its narrowing path down over his abdomen, moving in light circles closer and closer to Edward's softened, still sensitive cock.

"Not yet, my insatiable love," he groaned, grabbing her adventurous hand. His action drew her eyes to his hand, and his watch, and the time... and she nearly jumped off the table in her haste to get up.

"Edward, dinner!" she exclaimed, already on her feet, gathering their discarded articles of clothing.

Edward sat up, observing how the proof of their recent activities was slowly meandering down her inner thigh. He couldn't hold back the burst of possessive pride that flashed through his chest in that moment, but he tamped it down quickly. Leading her to the bathroom, he helped her clean up, then fetched a clean pair of panties while she brushed her hair... again.

"For my peace of mind," he explained, handing them over.

His shirt was not fit to be worn, so he quickly pulled out another one. By the time he was dressed, Bella had already cleaned up the kitchen table and was waiting for him in the living room, looking demure in her pink dress. Still without a bra.

"Shall we?" he asked, smiling because he was just so happy to be with this woman.

She smiled back, the same sentiment reflected in her eyes, as they walked over to the chateau hand in hand.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Translations:

_Mon Dieu _: My God

_Pauvre petite _: Poor little thing

_Méchante fille _: Bad girl

_mon cœur _: My heart

A/N: They seem to have had fun. And they will continue to do so, in the Jacuzzi, by the sound of it.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N**: It's a bit of a mindbend writing magical stories for 5-year-olds (I actually get paid for that) and then switching to vacation sex, but I do my best.

**Chapter 12**

Bella was quiet as she leaned against the railing, looking out along the winding coast of Gauriac. The tiny town was just a few minutes away from the vineyard, and was located on a rocky outcrop along the Gironde Estuary. It was beautiful, a delightful mix of medieval and modern, with its shops and houses just as charming to her eyes as the squat eleventh century stone church.

From where she stood, she could see right down to where the blue waters of the Dordogne melded with those of the Garonne. Fishing sheds or _carrelets_ dotted the coastline, little boxes on stilts, linked to the mainland by rather rickety looking walkways. A single motorboat sped past, likely carrying tourists from the larger town of Blayes, a few miles upstream. It was another beautiful day—warm, but tempered by a pleasant breeze, and there was a stillness to the moment that almost made her heart ache.

She turned to the right, and her mouth turned up involuntarily at the sight of the man standing slightly bent to keep his head under the awning of the bright pink chou-chou cart. She had been mildly intrigued by the name, until she realized it was just what they called churros here. Edward was happy to indulge her in anything that made her eyes light up like a child's, and had run over immediately to get the sugary fried snack.

He laughed at something the vendor said, and Bella couldn't stop her own smile broadening at the sight of his happiness. She knew that somewhere along the line she and Edward would rub each other the wrong way, would get frustrated and annoyed and fight and feel slighted by the other. She just hoped that through it all, they never lost this feeling—this gladness at being near each other.

Edward walked over to where she was standing, his demeanor relaxed, but his steps quick, as though his entire being was eager to get closer to her.

"Here you go, _chérie_," he said, stealing a kiss as he handed over the container of hot chou-chou. She nipped playfully at his ear, before dipping one long stick of fried choux pastry in the little pot of melted chocolate Edward held in his hand.

He swallowed thickly when she licked the drips off the pastry, and tried not to moan out loud when she slid the confection into her mouth, taking it inch by inch, hollowing her cheeks and humming as she sucked off all the chocolate. He sighed in relief when she finally bit off a piece and started chewing, releasing him from the daze he had lapsed into, thanks to the unintentionally erotic display she had just put on. Perhaps it was Edward's fault for finding every little thing Bella did arousing, but he didn't particularly care.

Leaning down, he licked away the flecks of chocolate that coated her pursed lips; then grabbed a pastry stick for himself. The way her eyes went wide and glazed over when he swirled his tongue around the chocolate coated sweet made his chest swell—almost as much as his cock, which was valiantly protesting against its forced exile from Bella's body while they spent the day sightseeing.

Fortunately for Edward's cock, relief was close at hand. At Bella's hand, as a matter of fact. Walking through the old part of town towards the parking lot where they had left Edward's car, the street was deserted. The lazy afternoon sun created a striking contrast between the almost incandescent brightness of the light that hit the roofs, and the deep shadows that spread over the stone walls below.

Bella pretended to slip on a cobblestone, and stumbled back into Edward's firm chest and protective arms. A quick butt shuffle and brush up against the front of his sexy jeans made it clear that their recent chou-chou adventures had affected him just as much as they had turned her on. With another quick, inconspicuous look around, she turned and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Recovering from his momentary shock, Edward reciprocated enthusiastically, one hand at the nape of her neck, the other curled around her tempting derriere.

So caught up was he with the spectacular feeling of her lips on his, and her hand stroking his aching erection over his jeans, that he didn't even realize that they had been moving until his back hit the cool stone wall next to a recessed archway. Edward was completely wrapped up in the kiss, yet it was as though his awareness of everything around was amplified—the heady aroma of flowers from the window boxes just above, the warm, soft body pressed against his own, the far away cry of a nightingale reverberating over the water—he registered everything. It was as though his emotions were too much for his body to contain, and his spirit burst out of its physical confines to soar into the ether.

Then she tugged open the button of his jeans and slipped her hand inside his boxers. The moment her hand came in contact with his cock, his spirit slammed right back into his body, eager not to miss out a moment of the exquisite sensations she elicited, as she stroked and tugged and squeezed him into near-oblivion.

What would have been the greatest hand-job of his life came to an unceremonious end when Bella stiffened, withdrew her hand from his pants, stepped back, and leaned up against the wall next to him as though nothing had happened. A moment later two women walked by, herding three children between them.

Their voices had scarcely faded, when Edward and Bella broke down into helpless laughter, at the thought of what the women had nearly walked in on.

"_Méchante fille_," he chastised fondly, dropping a kiss on Bella's smiling lips, hurrying her along to the car.

Not fifteen minutes later, they were back at the Maison de Bujan, naked in bed.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Thursday morning came much too soon.

Waking up with Bella in his arms made Edward want to stay in bed and never leave. He knew they had to leave soon if he wanted to stop at Bergerac on their way back to Le Mazet, but for the moment, he just held Bella close and looked out toward the open window. The billowing curtains gave him glimpses of the neat rows of vines that stretched as far as the eye could see.

He grinned, remembering Bella's shrieks of laughter the previous evening, as she ran barefoot through the vines, while he ran after her, trying to get her to put on a pair of flip-flops. It had been silly, juvenile fun, and he had been shocked at how much he had enjoyed it. When he had finally caught her—as they had both known he would—she had smelt like sweet, warm sunshine and something faintly tart and citrusy, probably from the grapes she had snuck off the vine as they had wandered through the neatly planted rows earlier, hand in hand.

Later, when the stars had taken over the sky in all their glittering, shimmering glory, they had settled into the outdoor jacuzzi. The warm water jets soothed their tired muscles, easing the fatigue of a full day of sightseeing, exploring, and lovemaking. Bella had taken great pleasure in feeding him from a bunch of delicious grapes their hosts had gifted them. She had straddled his lap, pressing her naked body against his, as she pressed each ripe, succulent morsel against his slightly parted lips; then sucked the flavor from his lips and tongue.

It was not long before Edward had gripped her by the waist and placed her on the ledge of the tub.

"But I want to ride you," she had pouted, her lips tinted red from the grapes.

"Water is not the best for lubrication, my love," he had laughed, her disgruntled expression making him want to kiss her all over.

And so he had risen, planting one knee next to her hip, sliding into her slow and deep; then pulling out completely and dragging his cock once… twice through her pussy lips, hitting her clit at every pass. She threw her head back as he entered her welcoming body again; and as they built up a frantic rhythm, she looked up at the stars above, until he drove her to the edge of sanity, and made her see stars with her eyes shut.

Now, in the growing light of dawn, they lay in bed knowing their vacation was coming to a close, and that it was almost time to let reality, the world, the imperatives of society impinge upon their perfect state of togetherness.

"Edward," Bella whispered, "When will you come to me?"

"As soon as I can, _ma belle_," he replied, running his fingers through her fine hair, memorizing the texture, the softness. "I have to take on my responsibilities within the company once again, and Jas and I have to figure out the details of moving into the American market. It all depends on the red tape, really. Fortunately I hold dual French-American citizenship, so at least we do not have to go through the added hassle of applying for residence permits and so on."

"No," she said forcefully, rising on an elbow and looking down at him with a fierce expression that didn't do much to mask the desperation in her eyes. "I know it will take you time to figure out work. But you can come to meet me, can't you? I refuse to stay away from you for months and months!"

He couldn't hold back his smile. "_Oui_, you are entirely correct in that, _mon cœur_. I too refuse to stay away from you. Let me talk to Jasper tonight, and I will book my tickets to Seattle right away."

That seemed to appease her, and she laid her head on his chest, still pouting, but marginally happier. "You do that. And I'll talk to Alice and work out my schedule for the next few months. I can come to you in London as well." They were quiet for a beat, then she sat up suddenly, her eyes wide and insecure. "Am I being too clingy? I can… I can try to stay away if you think I'll just interfere with your work. I mean, if it'll get you there faster, I can wait."

Edward stemmed the increasingly frantic tide of her words with a stern look and a gentle finger laid across her lips.

"You know I am not always the most expressive man, _cherie_. With you, it is easier than usual, but even so… I need you to know that this is what I want. You are not forcing me into doing anything I do not want. I want you with me. I want to be with you. Yes, I will probably be busy, but you already promised you would never let me lose myself in work, did you not? We will learn together, we will balance our work and our love, and we will be stronger for it."

Bella breathed in deeply, blowing out the air in a whoosh. Then she flopped back down onto the bed, cuddling into his side. "I love you," she said, simply.

Edward held her close. "I love you too, _ma petite chou-chou_." Her answering giggle made his morning a million times brighter.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

They left the vineyard later that morning, after thanking their hosts and carefully placing two crates of the Chateau Bujan wines in the trunk of Edward's car. In an hour and a half, they reached the town of Bergerac on the Dordogne, where they had a leisurely lunch, before taking in the sights.

"I have seen so many cobbled streets, medieval castles, churches, Roman remains, and war memorials in the last month, I should be sick of them by now, right? So how come I'm not?" she wondered aloud, as they walked down yet another quaint bylane, where a B&amp;B was advertised by a dainty statue of a seated woman in full traditional dress, holding a chalkboard. "I mean, look at that. It should be ugly, that statue, but it's beautiful. Walking along these streets, I feel like I'm a character from _A Tale of Two Cities_, or _The Hunchback of Notre Dame_, or something!"

"I'm glad you feel that way, Bella," Edward said seriously. "I want you to like it here. We've only seen a very small part of the country so far, and I want to return here with you. I want to take you to the Alps, to Nice and St. Tropez, to Paris and Normandy. And I want our children to know and appreciate their French roots, this culture as well."

Edward had spoken with confidence, but as he waited for her reaction to his words, he was a nervous wreck inside. This was the first time either of them had mentioned children, though he had already envisioned a daughter just like Bella weeks ago. In the midst of all the other conversations they had compressed into the short time they had been together, this was one that had never come up.

"I want that too," she agreed shyly, her eyes trained on their linked hands. "I didn't know if you wanted children, but I might have thought about it, a little."

Judging by her flaming blush, Edward knew it was probably more like a lot, but he held his tongue. They let the matter drop, knowing they would discuss it further later, when the time was right, but somewhat relieved that they were at least on the same page. Or almost the same page, Edward mused, thinking of the little jewelry box he had brought back from England, and which was now safely locked away in his cabinet at the farm.

He smiled as Bella laughed up at the statue of Cyrano de Bergerac on his weird metal pedestal. Soon. He would ask her very soon.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

**A/N**: Romantic interlude over; back to the farm and real life next week. See you then.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N**: Getting stuff done in time for a vacation is serious work. It's a relief to finally wake up without a to-do list.

**Chapter 13**

Edward turned into the quiet lane that marked the boundary of Le Mazet, and stopped for a moment, letting the car idle.

"_Bienvenue, mademoiselle_," he said. "We'll be home in a minute. Let's go upstairs and relax in a warm bath for a while, _oui_? Then when we are properly fortified, we will go meet everyone next door."

"_Vraiment, monsieur Masen_? Are you sure that isn't code for more sex?" she laughed at his hopeful expression. They both reached for each other at the same time. A peck turned into a deeper kiss, and their lips parted only to meet again, softly tasting and insistently demanding more. Their moment was shattered by the irritating tapping of a fingernail on the passenger side window.

Rose and Emmett stood by the car, looking in with identical expressions of nervous trepidation.

"Hi you two, how was your vacation? You look happy," Rose rattled off with a strangely choked laugh and a quick glance towards Emmett. "You umm… you sure you don't want to maybe go pick up some groceries from St. Junien or something?"

"Rosie," said Emmett, "let's just…"

"Or hey, maybe you should just take another day together. Nothing much happens in Le Mazet anyway, right?" Rose gulped and bobbed her head, looking like a deranged bobble-head doll. "We could come with you!"

"Rose, what is the matter?" Bella asked, quickly climbing out of the car and taking her sister's hands in her own. "You're freaking out. You never freak out." She cut her eyes to the men standing to the side, looking nonplussed. "And how did you even know we had stopped here? Were you looking out for us? Did something… happen… with you two?"

For a moment, Rose's expression didn't change, but then her forehead cleared and she gasped a quiet laugh. "Oh no, no… nothing happened. Not like that. But it's just… I really don't think you should have to go in there right now."

"Go in there?" repeated Edward, with raised eyebrows. "It is our home, Rose. Why should we not go in there?"

"Uh yes, about that," said Emmett, "You have some unwanted company in there. It might be our fault, sort of. So…"

"So you were trying to head us off?" said Edward, shaking his head. "It is still our house. Whoever it is that you are trying to warn us about, they will have to leave, _n'est-ce pas_?"

Emmett snorted. "It hasn't happened so far."

Edward stilled. "Are you saying _Angela_ is inside my house?"

A nervous giggle escaped Rose. "Got it in one, Edward. Welcome home!"

With a groan, Bella leaned back against the side of the car. "Ugh, I had almost forgotten about her, and now she's here? And what do you mean it's your fault?"

Emmett shot a quick look to Rose, and spoke up. "Ok see, the day after you left, James kind of dropped a bomb. He'd somehow managed to sweet-talk Victoria into letting him join her and Annie for the rest of their vacation."

"I don't suppose that went over well with dear Aunt Angie," Bella said, trying to hold in her incredulous laugh.

"I didn't think he had it in him," commented Edward. "But go on."

"I thought Aunt Angie would blow up, she went so red," said Rose with a fond smile. "But James was out of there before anyone could react. Uncle Ben already knew, so he wasn't bothered at all. Just went on with his breakfast, cool as ever."

Emmett continued, "With James and Vic gone, Jasper and I decided to clean up your place a bit before he had to leave. I was taking out the trash when I saw Angie sneak up to the house. I am not joking, she tip-toed across the grass, and pressed up against the wall trying to peek in through the window of the barn, to see if Vic's car was hidden there. I could practically hear the Mission Impossible theme in the background."

"Or the Pink Panther theme," suggested Rose.

"True, that would fit," agreed Emmett with a laugh. "Anyway, so I told Jasper and he came up with an idea to mess with her."

Edward rubbed his face with a hand. "Jazz, of course. Do I even want to know?"

Emmett shrugged sheepishly. "We waited till she had sidled over to the main house, then we put on some random porn to give her something interesting to overhear. Then Jazz and I walked out, whispering loudly about how embarrassing it was, and how James couldn't just use your house as his dirty sex hideaway. Then we pretended to notice Angela, and Jazz steered her back to Rose's place in that suave way of his. I don't know what exactly he said to her, but the next thing I knew, Angela was running back to Rose's place like her hair was on fire."

"Oh lord!" groaned Bella with a helpless laugh. "I'm almost sorry I missed seeing this."

"It was kind of fun," conceded Rose with a grin, before sobering up. "She was pretty awful the whole evening, but we didn't think much of it. Jasper left for England, and Em and I were upstairs at my place, working on my project. Aunt Angie didn't leave us alone, though. She kept stomping up and down and passing comments, annoying us, asking what we were doing a million times, the usual."

"She just wouldn't let up, so we decided to keep messing with her," added Emmett, looking a little guilty. "I went over for breakfast the next morning—yesterday. I had been up most of the night working on a research paper, so I must've looked a bit tired, I guess. Angela started in on how I looked like crap, how kids nowadays needed to manage their time better, and how it was a pity I didn't seem to have any better role models than my 'poor uncle'. I mean seriously, she could teach a conversation class for bad manners."

"And then she suggested that I was a fool for getting involved with someone so much older than myself, and told mom she was just concerned that I'd be left alone and holding the baby, so to say," added Rose, indignantly. "Mom shut her up pretty fast, but I was so angry. I mean she's rude and insufferable as it is, but I'd have thought the revelations about her precious James would have shut her up a bit, you know? But God, she's worse than ever!"

"It was beyond ridiculous," agreed Emmett. "Oh, and then I pretended I hadn't heard all her crap, and told her your house was probably haunted, 'cause there was this constant moaning and rhythmic banging that kept me up all night, but I just couldn't figure out where the sounds were coming from. She snapped to attention pretty quickly, I can tell you. We didn't wait for her questions, though. I took Rosie out to Rochechouart for the day, and we actually got a little work done on our school stuff."

"But she was just as bad when we returned. She actually commented on the two of us having gone out for the day. I mean, seriously. What right does she have to make stupid insinuations about anyone? And we haven't even… I mean…" Rose stuttered to a stop with red cheeks.

Edward nodded, trying not to smile. "Go on. How did all this end up with her in my house?"

"Right, so we decided to continue with Jazz's joke. I had seen one of those stupid printed cravats he had brought with him in the wash, so we pretended to have found it near your cellar door. Em was so convincing, going on about how he was sure it hadn't been there before. Aunt Angie lapped it up, too. The upshot is that she now believes that James and Vic are holed up in your place somewhere. I think her story right now is that you have somehow trapped her precious son in your… ahem… playroom or something. When she heard you were returning today, she parked herself in the driveway. Mom got so annoyed, she made us tell her the truth, but Aunt Angie absolutely refused to listen. We let her into your place because otherwise she threatened to break a window and enter."

Edward looked at Emmett and Rose blankly for a moment. Then he turned and took Bella in his arms, burying his head in the soft curve of her neck. "_Mignonne_, tell me I dreamt up this conversation, please?"

Bella chuckled, stroking the soft hair off his forehead and dropping a kiss there. "I don't think I can do that, Edward. Let's just go get rid of her."

With a sigh, he agreed.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Rose and Emmett hadn't been exaggerating when they said Angela was worked up. She dashed out of the front door the moment she heard the sound of the car engine. Before Edward and Bella could even get their doors open, Angela was bearing down on them, nostrils flaring, thin lips pursed, chin jutting out. Her pugnacious attitude was in sharp contrast to the flirty, low-cut floral jumpsuit she was sporting.

"It looks like she hasn't given up on her plan to seduce you yet," muttered Bella.

"_C'est incroyable_," said Edward. "Do you suppose she plans to offer herself as a sacrifice if I'll let her precious son go?"

Bella rolled her eyes at the ridiculous suggestion. "Let's just get this done with, Edward. I had other plans for tonight, you know."

They stepped out of the car, bracing themselves for Angela's fury.

"So, you are here at last, I see," she bit out. "You… you seemed like a nice man, but you have proved yourself to be a libertine!"

Her tirade was cut short by Bella's incredulous laughter. "Who says stuff like that? And you are being rude, Aunt Angie. You can't just turn up at Edward's place and insult him."

"Oh, you have no idea what I can do, young woman. Either he gives up my son, or he will have to face me."

"I've no idea where your son is," said Edward, his exasperation evident. "Bella and I have been travelling all day and are tired. If that is all you had to say, we'll say good night and perhaps talk tomorrow when you are in a more rational frame of mind."

"Rational!" she sputtered. "How can you expect me to be rational when my only child is being used, and brainwashed, and… and maybe whipped!"

"Angela," said Edward in a deliberately calm voice. "I'll only say this once. James is not here. I have no idea where he is. I am not interested in whipping him. I am not interested in whipping anybody. If you really want to know where your son is, you could try calling him on his cell phone."

"Oh," she said, nonplussed. "So you don't have a playroom with chains and whips?"

Emmett and Rose had walked up in time to hear their last few exchanges, and nearly fell to the pavement laughing at Angela's comment. Ignoring their howls of mirth, Bella stepped up to Angela. "Aunt Angie, I really think you need to go back to Uncle Eli's place now. Whether or not Edward has a playroom is for _me_ to know. I know you came to Le Mazet because Uncle Ben needed peace and quiet, but I really think village life is way too stressful for you. He's fine with his brother; why don't you take a cruise or something to soothe your nerves? I know seeing Victoria and Annie was a huge shock for you. You really need to get away, you know?"

For a moment, it seemed as though Angela wanted to argue, but the idea of her being the injured party in need of a rest cure appealed to her greatly.

"You could be right," she sniffed. "I have been made to suffer so much, and I haven't said a word. Not one word of complaint! But this is all really too much. If I wasn't so worn out, there's no way Edward would have chosen you. But I'm not going to grudge you that. There's no way a plain little thing like you could keep a man like that for long, so enjoy it while you can. I'm not going to tempt him away this time."

Bella was focused more on Edward than on Angela's words, so she saw the moment he stiffened with anger, his eyes flashing and jaw firming. She quickly placed herself between them, pushing Rose forward in the process. "Thanks, Aunt Angie. That's really nice of you. Why don't you go along with Rose now, and she'll help you book something that you'll enjoy."

Bella, Edward and Emmett heaved a collective sigh of relief when Angela finally walked off with Rose.

The tension drained from Edward's body and he slumped against the car. "_Mon Dieu_," he muttered. "What a homecoming."

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

"Edward."

"Hmmm?"

"Do you?"

"Do I what, _chérie_?"

"Do you have a playroom with whips and chains?"

Edward rose onto his elbow, staring down at the naked woman by his side with a raised eyebrow.

She giggled.

"Do you want me to tie you down, _ma belle_?" he whispered. "Blindfold and tease you, pleasure you till you beg me for release? Do you want to submit to my every desire?" He ran a fingertip along her collarbone, then down over her exposed breasts, circling the tips.

"Oh yes," she moaned, her body arching up involuntarily. "But…"

"But?" he whispered, moving to cover her body with his, scattering kisses over her shoulder, neck and face.

"But I get to do the same to you. Will you submit to me?"

"Bella," he whispered. "I already do. I always will."

He slowly entered her body, setting a slow, deep rhythm that tantalized as much as it pleasured. Again and again, they came together, lips meeting, fingers sliding over slick bodies, grabbing and stroking, until she tugged on his hair and groaned out a single demand.

"More!"

Edward grunted an incoherent reply, focused solely on her body and its response to his own. Their breathing became increasingly erratic as he drove into her hard and fast, their need for each other a tangible force uniting them, elevating them beyond the confines of their bodies, till they came together in a glorious burst of sensation.

Lying in her arms, his head cradled against her breast, Edward sighed in contentment. Tomorrow, he would put her on a flight that would take her miles away from him. But he had her tonight, and he would do whatever it took to keep her always.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Translations:

_Bienvenue _: Welcome

_Vraiment _: Really

_Mignonne _: Little one

_C'est incroyable _: It's incredible/unbelievable

_Mon Dieu _: My God

**A/N**: We're back to regular updates! Next week: Parting is such sweet sorrow, etc.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N**: NYC is so much fun with the right company!

**Chapter 14**

From where he lay in bed, Edward watched the stars gradually fade away, as the sky lightened from a dark, spangled sable to a soft velvety violet, a deep and then a lighter grey, shot through with ribbons of gold. He was content to hold the warm, comfortable weight of Bella snuggled against his chest, as the first faint strains of orange, purple and pink streaked the eastern sky.

He heard the birds wake up and chirp their merry soundtrack to the morning as the molten sun pushed its way through the clouds on the horizon. She didn't stir, and neither did he. He watched the slowly changing light play across her delicate features. He held her and committed every moment to his memory, filling up on her distinctive scent, reveling in the sight of her hair spread across his chest, the way her breath tickled his skin in tantalizing puffs of warmth, the way her skin felt against his.

He finally pulled away from her embrace when the bright sun started bleaching the eastern sky of color, knowing that she would shake off sleep soon. He hurried down, quickly putting together a breakfast reminiscent of the first one she had had in his bed—chocolate croissants, omelets, pancakes, juice, and chocolate milk.

He smiled, arranging everything exactly the same way as he had done just a few weeks ago. That was the day he had first declared his love for her, and today he was about to declare himself again. He stepped into his garden, selecting the prettiest rose, just at the cusp of blooming fully. Stepping inside again, he looked over the tray once again, adding one special touch to the arrangement. Then he carefully made his way up to the bedroom.

He paused, listening for any sounds from within that might signal if Bella was awake yet. He grinned when he heard a distinct whiny grumble and rustle of sheets. He now knew exactly how long she took to wake up if he left her alone in bed, how she would reach out, pouting, grumpy, searching for him. He suppressed a pang at the thought of how many days he would have to go without that familiar sight, and quickly entered the room.

"_Bonjour, mon cœur_," he said softly, setting the tray down on his side of the bed. The picture before him was much as he had imagined it—the rumpled sheets hiding most of her beautiful body, her hair a wild, dark cloud around her face, bleary eyes blinking against sleep and the morning light, soft pink lips pouting and her hand stretched out to him. He quickly grabbed his phone and took a picture before she could wake up enough to protest.

Tossing the phone to the side, he sat down, his hand automatically reaching for hers. A moment passed in touch; linking their fingers, sliding and grasping, teasing and pressing the whorls and ridges together. Blinking away the heaviness of sleep, her lips curved up with the simple joy of being with him.

Pushing away the covers from her nude body, she stretched, then stood up and sleepily made her way to the en-suite bathroom. Edward smiled at her unconscious beauty, settling back to await her reappearance.

He didn't have long to wait. She walked out wearing one of his soft cotton t-shirts that hung rather appealingly over her smaller frame, making him think of creative ways of removing it from her body. He snapped out of his fantasy when Bella made a beeline for him, clambering onto his lap. She snuggled close, rubbing up against his bare chest and running her fingers through his hair. He tightened his arms around her, and for a beat they were still, just looking at each other, as though for the first time. Slowly, they leaned in; he nudged her nose with his, and she responded by placing her lips over his. It was the softest touch, just a gentle contact before their lips started moving with greater purpose.

Finally, when he was drunk on her taste, she drew back with a bright smile. "_Bonjour_, my Edward."

He blinked and huffed a laugh. "Breakfast, _mignonne_?" he asked, moving her so she was settled beside him on the bed, facing the tray he had so carefully prepared, and so nearly forgotten about entirely in the last minute or so.

She took one look at the tray and gasped. "You made everything… just like that first morning!" She threw him a dazzling smile, before reaching out to grab a croissant. "Mmph, mmm," she groaned with her mouth full, offering him a bite.

Edward laughed, and took the croissant from her fingers, laying it back on its plate. "In a minute, _chérie_. First tell me what else you see on the tray."

"Well, there's a beautiful rose on the tray. For me?" she asked, batting her eyelashes at him theatrically. At his amused nod, she picked it up, twirling it in her fingers and admiring the simple beauty of its softly unfurling petals. To her surprise, though, it seemed a bit… heavy. Her fingers, which had been stroking up and down its stalk froze abruptly when they came in contact with something cold, hard, and shaped a lot like a…

"Edward, what's this?" Bella asked, tugging the ring off the string Edward had used to tie it to the flower. When she had the ring in her hand, though, she froze. It was so beautiful, and so obviously valuable. A delicate gold band lay beneath a sparkling oval emerald surrounded by 18 smaller round diamonds arranged to look like an unfurling flower. The edges had a beautiful etched design that Bella recognized at a glance as fine Victorian workmanship.

"Isabella," said Edward, his deep voice sending shivers of excitement skittering up her spine. She tore her eyes away from the ring to find him kneeling before her, still on the bed. And despite her shock and excitement at what she knew was coming, Bella couldn't help but be a little turned on at the sight of the man before her.

"The moment our eyes met, I was yours. I had never expected to find love, I had never expected to feel so much for anyone. Yet in you, in that single moment, I saw my soulmate. I have never been a particularly romantic person, _ma belle_, but you make me want to be. I want to make you happy. I want to share your joys, shoulder your burdens and protect you from all sorrow. You are so much a part of my heart, I don't see my future without you in it. And our future together—I want that so much. Will you accept this ring as my promise to love and support you always? Will you marry me, Bella?"

Blinking away unexpected tears, Bella reached out to grip Edward's hand tight. She tried to speak, but her words had deserted her. Edward tenderly wiped away her tears, but that just made her cry harder. He shifted closer, and held her, till at last with a shuddering breath, she calmed somewhat.

She quietly pressed the ring into his right hand, and held out her left hand towards him. At his hopeful, questioning look, she could only nod emphatically and repeatedly, the tears running over again. But as he finally slid the ring onto her finger and kissed her hand in a courtly gesture, her smile broke through. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him with all the love and joy coursing through her body.

When they finally broke apart, panting and a little dazed, she said, "Yes! Yes, I will marry you. I want to do all that with you too… care for you and protect you and keep you happy." She squirmed happily, gazing at her beautiful new ring. "It's so lovely, Edward. It's antique, isn't it?"

He traced a finger over her smile. "Yes, _mignonne_. It has been in my family for years. I got it with me when I came back from England a couple of weeks ago. I knew it was probably too early, then, but I had no doubt of what you meant to me. The ring is a little old fashioned I guess, but I want you to have it. If you like, we can get you a different engagement ring, though."

"Oh no, don't even think of it!" Bella exclaimed, hiding her hand behind her back as though afraid he would try to take away the ring. "This is my engagement ring we're talking about, mister. My fiancée put it on my finger, and I am honored to wear it."

He laughed and grabbed her hand. "_Tu es l'amour de ma vie. Tu es ma raison d'être_. As long as you are happy, I am happy. But come now, I must feed my lovely fiancée."

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Goodbyes were nobody's favorite thing.

Bella and Edward agreed that in the spirit of celebrating their engagement, a goodbye was redundant anyway. So it was with bright smiles and linked hands that they made their way to Carmen and Eleazar's cottage a few hours later.

The older couple sat together at the kitchen table, drinking tea and reading different sections of the newspaper that Eleazar must have picked up at Rochechouart the previous evening. The sight of their quiet companionship made Bella smile. For just a moment, she had a flash of what life with Edward could be like, and it was a vision of the future that she realized she craved.

"Bella!" Carmen stood up with a warm smile, stepping forward to hug her niece. "We were just wondering when you would come over. I have half a mind to turn away your boyfriend for monopolizing your time," she said with a laugh and a wink at Edward. "He can go eat something at his bachelor homestead while we enjoy your going away feast."

"Yeah, darling," agreed Eleazar. "I'm thinking he's done a lot of feasting lately."

Three sets of incredulous eyes turned on him as one, a little stunned at his unexpected remark.

"What? You are dating one of my friends. I get to razz him once in a while," he protested.

Bella's eyes danced, and her lips twitched, but when she spoke it was with a straight face. "Oh sure, Uncle Eli, but you see, he's not my boyfriend."

"What?"

"What happened? Surely you didn't break up with him?"

"You look too happy to have broken up."

"Edward? Is this about the distance?"

Bella was clearly enjoying her aunt and uncle's reactions a little too much, so Edward stepped forward and cleared his throat. "No, we haven't broken up. But she's right. She is not my girlfriend anymore. She's my fiancée."

There was a beat of silence, before Carmen gave a Rose-worthy squeal and hugged Bella again. Eleazar laughed, shook his head and stepped forward to grab Edward in a manly half-hug. Their excitement had barely died down when Rose and Emmett walked in and joined the celebrations.

"Wow, that's some ring," said Rose, turning Bella's hand this way and that, watching the stones sparkle as they caught the light.

"Rose, you can take that as one of your… what do you kids call it… relationship goals?" said Eleazar in an offhand tone, but with a wicked glint in his eye.

"Dad!" gasped Rose. Emmett paled a little, and manfully tried to control the twitch in his eye.

Carmen rolled her eyes. "Don't mind him, kids. This is what he's like when he's really happy."

Emmett gulped and smiled a little shakily. Taking pity on his nephew, Edward said, "Wow, El, relationship goals? Is someone going through a mid-life crisis here?"

Carmen laughed, "That he is not! Now get out of my kitchen, the lot of you. I have an engagement feast to prepare. No, I don't need any help, everything is almost ready. Don't let me see any of you underfoot for the next hour, is that understood?"

The group spilled out onto the lawn behind the kitchen, enjoying the warm sunshine as much as the company.

"I really will miss this," said Bella with a smile. "I knew I'd love spending the summer here, but I had never imagined it would be the most amazing, life-changing vacation of my life."

Eleazar smiled at her. "My dear girl, it has been a most unexpected summer all round, I think. I hope to see you back here again very soon."

Rose looked up from where she was laying on the grass. "Yeah, I mean marrying Edward makes this her home as well. She's got to come back. Hey, you could get married right here!"

Edward smiled at his fiancée, and said, "We will see, Rose. For now, I will be following my Bella to America, as soon as I can. As for the wedding, we will decide all the details by and by."

Bella nodded gently at his answer, but it gave her pause.

Where did she want to get married? And how long did she want to wait? Of course, she knew the next few months were going to be difficult with figuring out Edward's move. She knew there were practical matters to take care of, such as introducing Edward to her parents. They would probably have to get a new house in Seattle. But then what about this house?

Almost as though he could see the wheels spinning out of control in her head, Edward leaned across and gave her hand a squeeze. At his touch, she calmed. They would figure it out together.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Ben was a little surprised at news of Bella's engagement, but his congratulations were genuine. He wasn't sure that Renee would approve of Bella marrying a man so much older than her, but he held his peace. He had never been able to justify his interest in Carmen's sister, and he was still as cagey about it today as he had been the first time he had met her, at his brother's wedding. Besides, he didn't want to take Renee's name anywhere near Angela.

Angela, for her part, smiled thinly and ate sparingly, while her eyes shot daggers at the happy couple. Fortunately, she found the ring too old fashioned, and not nearly flashy enough for her taste, so her jealous mumbles were at a minimum.

The fact that most of the village had gathered for the party might have also played a part in silencing Angela's usual spiel.

For Bella, watching all the people of Le Mazet turn up to give her a rousing send-off, and now, to celebrate her engagement, was heartwarming. It reminded her forcibly of her early days in the village, when they had welcomed her just as openly. She smiled at the thought of how she and Edward had danced around each other back then. With a smile, hand in hand, they now made their way to each person who arrived, accepting and exchanging hugs and smacking kisses to cheeks.

And yet, despite the outpouring of love and warmth, Bella was fighting hard not to lose it and crumble in an emotional heap right there in the middle of the garden party. She could not ignore the loud, insistent voice in her head that told her this was home. The feeling of loss that hit her at the thought of leaving was so strong, it made her stop in her tracks.

Then Edward gently raised her chin, and asked, "_Qu'est-ce qu'il y a_? Are you ok, _chérie_?"

So she gripped Edward's hand tighter, accepted his comforting peck on her lips, and told herself that she would come back.

She would come back home.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

**Translations:**

_Bonjour, mon cœur : _Good morning, my heart.

_Tu es l'amour de ma vie : _You are the love of my life.

_Tu es ma raison d'être : _You are my reason for being.

_Qu'est-ce qu'il y a _: What's the matter?

**A/N:** Ok, funny thought… I'm vacationing in NYC, but dreaming of a village in France that I last visited almost exactly 5 years ago.

But since all good things come to an end, Bella's definitely not going to be in France next week.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N:** I'm going home tomorrow. Not Excited. Vacations rock.

**Chapter 15**

As a little girl in lonely, tiny old Forks, Bella had thought that it must be nice to be in a place with many people. The more the people in one place, the warmer the place would be, right? It certainly seemed to be a scientific conclusion to draw.

With a sigh, Bella looked around the airport terminal on Saturday morning, waiting to board her flight back to Seattle. Over 2 million people traveled through Heathrow airport every day. Everywhere she looked, people were waiting, walking, rushing. So many people. So why did she feel as cold and alone as she had felt all those years back at home in Forks?

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

It was barely noon when Bella emerged from the airport at Seattle. She had slept a little on the flight and was feeling a little less morose. It had helped that Edward had been messaging pretty regularly. He had insisted on being with her every step of the way till she was forced to turn off her phone in the plane, and as soon as she landed, she was inundated with his texts. She dialed as she walked towards the baggage claim.

"Hi sweetheart, I just landed," she said when he picked the call. "I miss you. Why did I have to come back here, again?"

His rich, deep laughter washed right through her body, warming her and making her lips quirk up in automatic response.

"_Ma chérie_," he said fondly. "I miss you too. How was your flight?"

"It was ok. I slept through most of it. I'm just getting my bags now; then Alice is supposed to come pick me up."

"_Bien_. Text me when you reach home, and I will call you."

"What're you going to do till then? What did you do all day anyway, while I was in the flight?"

"Apart from missing you? Emmett and I worked on some repairs around the house. I want to fix the house before I lock it up and leave for London next week."

"So are you all… sweaty?" The question slipped out before she could censor her words.

"Well, yes," said Edward, sounding a little surprised. "Why do you ask?" His voice lowered. "Do you want to see me so dirty, so sweaty, _ma_ _belle_?"

"Maybe," she whispered huskily. "Will you show me?"

"Always," he said softly. "Now go get your bags. I will talk to you again before I go to bed. I love you, _chérie_."

"I love you too, Edward," she replied, just as she finally spotted her bags trundling along on the belt towards her.

It was with a smile on her face that she stepped out to face the grey, overcast day.

"Bella!" Alice waved her over enthusiastically. Bella quickly made her way to the petite woman and gave her a big hug.

"So," said Alice with a sidelong glance at her employer and friend, as she helped her lug her heavy bag into the trunk of her car a few minutes later. "Had a good vacation? Met anybody? A dishy French guy maybe?"

Bella rolled her eyes at the older woman. "Who've you been talking to? Oh wait, let me guess. Rose?"

"And your aunt," confirmed Alice with a grin. "She hinted there might have been surprising developments before you left."

"Oh, you mean this?" Bella said in an offhand manner, waving her left hand around. She held back her laughter at Alice's face when she saw the gorgeous ring on her finger.

"Bella," she said in a hushed, reverential tone. "That's… it's..."

"Victorian," she confirmed with a smile. "It's a family heirloom."

"Wow. And congratulations," Alice said sincerely. "I'm just so happy for you. And kind of stunned, but wow. Let's get in the car. You have got to tell me everything!"

As if on cue, her phone pinged with a new text. She bit her lip at the picture Edward had sent her—a sweaty, shirtless picture of him winking at her. Her breath hitched just looking at that half smile on his lips, and she had to swallow the urge to drool at the sight of his chiseled body. She wanted to lick that sweat right off his abs.

She was startled out of her Edward-induced haze by a low whistle right next to her ear.

"Holy shit, boss. Is that Edward? I thought your aunt lives in some tiny village in the middle of nowhere. Where'd you meet _him_?"

"He's their neighbor," Bella said, returning the phone to her pocket. "And that's my fiancée you were ogling."

"Oh quit giving me the evil eye. You know I'm just happy for you. And you know how it is with me and guys anyway." Alice's smile was bright, but the light in her eyes dimmed a little. "Whatever. Let's get you home. I'm sure you must be exhausted."

Giving Alice another quick hug, Bella got into the car. "I'm not too tired. But yeah, let's get home, I have so much to tell you!"

_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Edward had never been in any long-term relationships before, and as a result, often found himself at a loss when he stopped to consider his connection with Bella. For all intents and purposes, after all, their relationship was in its nascent stages. She might have agreed to marry him, but their future together was hardly set in stone yet. There were so many things they still needed to learn about the other, and the distance would surely not help the case.

To his surprise, though, the first few weeks after Bella returned to Seattle were not too difficult to get through. Despite the unwelcome distance and the inconvenient time difference, they quickly adapted and learnt to work around it. He called or skyped with her first thing every morning, which worked well as it was usually around 9 pm her time. In turn, she made it a point to call him when she took a break for lunch, which was when he was usually getting ready for bed.

Gradually, Edward relaxed and let go of the fears he had never really voiced, even to Jasper—that Bella would return to Seattle and realize that she did not feel for him as deeply as he did for her; that while he was at a point in his life where he wanted nothing more than to settle down with her, she might still want to explore her options.

With every day that passed, Edward found his fears dissipating. The fact that their connection was as strong now as it had been in the short, intense weeks of her vacation was as surprising for him, as it was comforting.

Strangely enough, his conversation with Charlie, though uncomfortable in the extreme, actually helped settle his mind. One of the first things Bella did on returning to Seattle was to call and tell both her parents about her unexpected engagement. Renee expressed an entire spectrum of reactions, from delight and excitement at her daughter's obvious happiness, to despair and worry at the speed at which everything had taken place. Charlie's response had been far more phlegmatic. He only once asked Bella if she was quite sure, and then gruffly informed her that she always had his support.

His reaction to Edward's phone call was less measured. He spoke to him as a contemporary rather than a young buck courting his daughter. In other words, he wasn't condescending, but he didn't hold back in his interrogation either. The considerable age gap between Bella and Edward, the difference in their cultures and experience, Edward's future plans—neither of the men shied away from any of the thorny issues surrounding the relationship. At the end of half an hour, they stepped away in accord, with a promise on Edward's part to visit Forks with Bella soon.

In the meantime, Edward was busy—first closing up the house in France and then taking on his earlier responsibilities at work. A week after Bella left, he moved back to his London apartment, and started spending long hours with Jasper, planning the firm's potential move to Seattle.

It was tiring, they missed each other like crazy, but every time a call or text from the other would light up their phones, it would also light up their entire day.

On her part, once she saw how much effort Edward put into sharing his life with her even at this distance, Bella's mostly hidden insecurities and fears started to subside as well. She may have loved him from the moment she met him, but it was only now, with the benefit of time and space, that she truly appreciated how much he had come to mean to her.

Just his presence in her life gave her a sense of contentment she had never before experienced. She had always enjoyed her work and her life at large, but everything just seemed different now—better, somehow.

She smiled down at her phone, seeing that Edward had sent a few IMs since she had last checked. They usually continued their conversations all day, going back and forth whenever they got a chance to. Bella had just got out of a long meeting with a brilliant young artist, who unfortunately had no head for business whatsoever. It was tiresome to have to convince an artist not to undervalue their own work, but Bella was happy with how things had ultimately worked out.

"Miss Swan!"

She turned to see Seth Clearwater, the young artist she had just bid goodbye, jogging up to her. Suppressing a sigh, she slipped the phone back into her pocket, and tried not to let her fatigue show.

"Hi, Seth," she greeted, as the young man came to a stop in front of her, huffing and puffing as he tried to catch his breath. "Was there something else you wanted to ask me?"

He smiled, and Bella smiled back. There was really no way you wouldn't smile back at Seth Clearwater. He was handsome, but beyond that, he was just so open, friendly and just plain nice that most people found it easy to like him. Even as she acknowledged his appeal, though, Bella couldn't help note how young he was, comparing his untried charm unconsciously to Edward's mature, rugged good looks.

"Yeah, I was wondering if I could talk to you some more," he said, giving her the full benefit of his fine, sparkling dark eyes.

"Oh, do you have some more questions? I'd suggest you hold on till we meet the gallery owner, though. They'd be the best people to clear up any further doubts you might have."

He ran his hand through his short hair with a bashful smile. "I was actually hoping you might come out to dinner with me," he said, pulling himself to his full height.

Bella was momentarily nonplussed. "Seth, I… I'm flattered, but I'm afraid I can't. I'm engaged, so…"

"Oh," he muttered. Then he brightened. "Hey, how about you invite your fiancé as well? Honestly, I don't know too many people here in Seattle—I've just been too wrapped up in my collection since I moved here, I guess. What I'm trying to say is that well, it would be really good to have some friends."

Bella relaxed at his candid words. "Well, when you put it like that… sure, we can meet up sometime soon. It'll just be me, though. My fiancé Edward isn't here at the moment."

"Just us, then," Seth agreed with a grin. "And I look forward to meeting Edward when he's back."

"Sure," she agreed. Promising to get in touch soon, they parted ways. As soon as she could, she once again drew out her phone and brought up the messaging app.

"_Sorry, love, got caught up with a young artist. He invited us both to dinner, btw. Get here soon, monsieur, we have social engagements already_."

To her delight the three blinking dots at the bottom of the page indicated that he was still up. A moment later, his response popped up.

"_Social engagements as a couple… sounds enticing. You know what else is enticing?_"

Bella grinned. "_What?_"

The reply came in just as fast. "_My fiancée. __Sans__ clothing. In my arms_."

A thrill ran though her at his words. "_That does sound enticing. How soon can we arrange that?_"

There was a pause, and her heart sank. She'd been doing her best not to focus on how long it had been since she had last been in his arms. The truth was, even a few hours was much too long, and they had already been apart almost six weeks at this point. She held her breath in anticipation when he began tying again.

"_Is tomorrow too soon?_"

Her breath left her in a whoosh and tears clouded her vision for a moment. Too soon? She wanted him here, right now! Blinking rapidly, she typed out a quick message.

"_Please tell me you mean that. Because I'm ready to drive to the airport right this moment and camp out till you arrive._"

Once again, his reply was swift and sure. "_No jokes. I can't stay away any longer._"

Bella laughed in sheer joy, even as the tears flowed freely over her cheeks. Tomorrow… just one more day, and she would see Edward again. Touch him again. Love him again.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

**A/N:** Yeah, this story can't bear it when I write even a shred of sad stuff. The characters sulk if I even try. It's sort of my happy place, so it stands to reason it'll be happy in tone, right?

Next week: Reunion!


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N:** I'm back home. It's hot and humid and I am sleepy a lot.

**Chapter 16**

Maybe this wasn't the best idea.

Bella sniffed and reached for the box of Kleenex by her side. Her eyes remained trained on the open screen of her laptop. She tried to suppress a sob, as the couple on the screen met after six months apart. The girl in the video couldn't stop her tears, and neither could Bella. She reached for another tissue, pouting a little when she discovered that it was the last one in the box. It was all Rose's fault, she thought.

She had been so excited about Edward's impending arrival, it had been hard to keep the silly smile off her face for the rest of the day. Alice's knowing smirk, bad traffic on the way home, getting her beautiful new slacks splashed by a passing car just outside her place—none of it made a difference to her. She was in an impenetrable bubble of joy, and nothing could taint her contentment.

When Rose called later in the evening, Bella was more than happy to share her delight. After they had both squealed and giggled, Rose declared, "It's about time, that's all I can say. He's been as mopey as you have. Em tells me the only way to get a smile out of Edward is to talk about you."

"Did he really say that?" Bella giggled. "Good to know, I guess. I mean, I'd rather he was happy than sad, but not when I'm so unhappy away from him, you know?"

"Oh yes," agreed Rose. "I completely get it. I kind of wish I was there to see you two meet again tomorrow, though. I bet it'll be just like those awesome videos."

"What awesome videos?"

"Oh you know, B… couples reuniting, long distance love stories, soldiers returning home unexpectedly, that kind of video? Stuff that people watch for hours when they should be working on things like their research paper? Hang on, I'll email you a few links."

That had been three hours ago. With each successive video that she clicked on, Bella found herself sympathizing with the couples, identifying with both their sadness at being apart from their loved ones, and the sheer joy and relief at seeing them again. When the girls onscreen cried, her tears overflowed as well. She saw her feelings for Edward in every caring gesture, every hug, every kiss between the couples. It came to a point where she was a blubbering mess, the emotion she was witnessing via YouTube feeding into her own pain at being away from Edward, and her own excitement and anticipation at meeting him again.

She sighed when the couple in the latest video just held onto each other, their eyes closed, matching expressions of bliss on their faces. The way they looked at that moment—so peaceful, so content—that was exactly how she felt around Edward.

She glanced at the small old-fashioned alarm clock on her bedside table. One a.m.—only ten more hours before he landed. She quickly shut her laptop and tossed it to the side. She was damned if she'd meet her beloved looking sleep deprived with puffy, bloodshot eyes.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Edward shifted impatiently in his seat as the plane circled above Seattle. There was heavy cloud cover over the city, and despite the many passes they had made above it, he hadn't been able to catch a glimpse of anything besides a sliver of sparkling ocean in the distance. The young man sitting next to him side-eyed him, finally saying, "Hey man, if you really need to go use the restroom, just go now. We're going to be circling here a while by the looks of things."

Edward was momentarily taken aback, before he broke out in slightly embarrassed laughter.

"No, that's alright, thanks. I'm not… that's not… I'm just eager to land. It's been a long flight."

"No kidding," agreed the young man. "As if nine and a half hours in the air wasn't bad enough, we've been circling around up here for at least fifteen minutes already. This place is always clouded over. You'd think they would have figured out how to get past that by now."

Edward nodded, but his attention had already wandered to the tiny window to his right. He indulged in fantasies of pushing open the window and jumping out with a parachute strapped to his back. That would definitely get him to Bella much faster than the still-circling airplane. Knowing Bella, though, she would freak out with worry. He still hadn't told her about his multiple skydives, and he wondered how she would react when he did. He made a mental note to gently introduce her to the milder forms of the adventure sports he and Jasper enjoyed so much. Maybe he could start with scuba diving on a holiday, maybe in Hawaii. Sun, sea, sand and Bella in a bikini.

He was startled out of his pleasant daydreams by the nasal voice of the flight attendant announcing their descent. He sat up a little straighter. Finally!

_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Bella swallowed nervously. Edward's flight was slightly delayed. She ran her fingers through her hair, before gathering it up into a ponytail. She blew out a long breath and tried to calm down. She checked the display on the wall again, nearly jumping when she saw that the status of his flight had been updated.

He had landed! He was here at last. All of a sudden, she didn't know what to do with herself. She bit her lip, bounced on her toes, and flapped her hands uselessly until one tangled with the strap of her bag, and the other found a home in the pocket of her jeans. She looked around wildly, before she remembered that it would take a few minutes at least for him to deplane and then another few to go through immigration.

She shuffled around a little, till she found a good spot next to a pillar, from where she had a clear view of the arrivals. A few minutes later, her phone chimed with a new text.

"_Look up_."

She looked around wildly, her eyes jumping from person to person, until she looked straight ahead, into bright green eyes. It was like that first moment on the farm in France again. His lips curled into a teasing grin, and she couldn't hold back her delighted laugh. Blind to the crowd around her, she made a beeline towards him. She might have bumped into a couple of people and nearly tripped over a few bags, but she had no recollection of that. She stopped a couple of feet away from him, just taking him in… the way his hair seemed to be a little longer than she remembered, how he smelled so good, so familiar.

He stood waiting, letting her take her time. He closed his eyes briefly when she reached up and touched his face softly, tracing over the line of his nose, his eyebrows, down the side of his face and over his lips. He kissed her fingertip, and opened his eyes again. Suddenly, neither of them could take the scant distance between them any longer. His hands reached for her, encircling her waist and pulling her closer till they stood toe to toe, her body pressed up against his.

"_Bonjour, mademoiselle_," he whispered, before leaning in and pressing his lips to hers.

It was a sweet, chaste kiss, followed by another, and then another. They finally broke away with identical broad grins on their faces.

"Let's get your bags, _monsieur_," she said. "We have plans."

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Edward found himself appreciating Bella's plans more and more with every passing minute.

He had walked out of the shower at her apartment with just a towel wrapped around his hips. To his surprise, his clothes had disappeared from her bed, and his bag wasn't where he had left it in her bedroom. He walked out, calling out to her, only to stop short at the sight in front of him.

The small dining table had been covered by a cream cloth with flowers embroidered around the edges. A steaming casserole sat in the middle of the table, which was however, only set for one person. He was startled from his thoughts by Bella, who walked out of the kitchen with a bottle of wine and a single goblet in hand. His eyes widened as he took in her attire—an apron, with the naked body of a man printed on it, balls and all. He groaned, his breathing speeding up unconsciously when she turned a little and it became obvious that the risqué apron was her only article of clothing.

"Bella," he managed to choke out. His throat was dry and all the blood seemed to have rushed down south, making it extremely difficult to think clearly.

She turned towards him with a bright, happy smile. Within moments, it morphed into a lustful, predatory grin as she took in his strong shoulders, defined chest and flat abs. She licked her lips at the sight of his erection, which was being very inadequately restrained by his loosely tied towel.

"Why, hello dear," she crooned, making her way over to where he stood stock still in stupefaction. "Dinner's ready. But you look a little… heated. Why don't you take this off?"

With a wink, she whipped off the towel and tossed it onto the couch.

"Oh look," she said innocently, pointing to the erect cock on her apron. "Now we match."

Edward blinked, then laughed at her outrageous comment. Grabbing her around the waist before she could escape, he pressed up against her.

"Not quite, _chérie_," he growled, nipping and sucking at her earlobe. Before she realized it, he had untied and tossed the apron aside. "That'll have to go. I'm afraid I'm not open to sharing you with other men… even headless ones printed on aprons."

"You're open to sharing me with women, then?" she asked wickedly.

He glared at her, before attacking the soft, sensitive skin of her neck. "_Non, ma belle_. But we will discuss this interest in polyamory later. Where did you get that apron anyway?"

Bella laughed, rubbing her body alluringly against his. "Alice got it for me as a gag gift a couple of years ago. From somewhere in Europe… I forget… ohh, yes… mmmmhhh…" Her words devolved into a series of incoherent moans as his fingers and lips reacquainted themselves with every inch of her that they could reach. Her legs nearly gave way when his questing fingers dipped into her pussy, even as one arm held her securely against his broad chest. They were both breathing heavily, their hearts racing with passion and desire.

It was with a very great effort that she pulled away from his addictive lips and persuasive fingers, to gasp out, "Ed..Edward… wait… we should eat first."

"Later," he growled, tugging her lower lip with his teeth, before sucking and licking the sting away.

"But… oh! I made… ah… all morning… God!" The feeling of his hard, ready cock rubbing along her clit made her forget what she was trying to say.

Her words took a few moments to filter into his lust-addled brain, but once they did, he pulled away slightly. His eyes were soft, and a smile danced around the corner of his lips. "You cooked for me, _mignonne_? Of course I will eat. Come."

"Oh," she said, a little dazed.

Without wasting a minute, Edward sat her down at the edge of the table, then took a seat in the chair before it.

"Appetizer first," he said with a wink. Her only response was a slight squeal and a gasp, as he proceeded to feast on her, his head buried firmly between her legs.

She lost all concept of time, her attention solely focused on the man before her and the pleasure he was bringing her body. His tongue and fingers drew her right to the edge, making her squirm and arch her back. But he pulled away before her rapture reached its peak, leaving her panting with want. She parted her lips to protest, but he silenced her with one look.

"Turn, _chérie_," he instructed, and she did.

He nudged her legs farther apart, massaging her thighs and ass firmly, making her shudder. With no further notice, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to his lap, impaling her on his waiting cock. A shudder went through her body, and she lay her head back on his shoulder. His hands ran up her taut belly, along her sides, lightly tickling her, before cupping her out-thrust breasts. He teased her nipples and kissed, licked and nipped at her exposed neck in time with the rhythmic squeeze of her inner muscles around his cock. Her own hands moved restlessly over his arms, reaching behind to grip his hair, down her own body to her clit, and then further down to feel where he was joined with her. When she fondled his balls, he let out a deep groan and bit down on her shoulder, making her muscles clench, thereby intensifying their mutual gratification.

Despite how good everything they were doing felt, Bella knew she couldn't bear to go much longer without more friction. She was about to move, but he stopped her.

"Let's eat first, _ma belle_," he whispered in her ear, his warm breath giving her goosebumps. She nodded and with shaky hands dished up the casserole and poured the wine. His hands covered hers, and he took over the task of feeding them. She melted into the protection and comfort of his arms, as he fed her, in between kisses and the occasional surreptitious flick to her clit. He started a gentle rocking motion back and forth in the chair as they ate, making his cock shift ever so slightly inside her pussy at each pass.

It was the most deliciously tortuous meal and the minute the last morsel of food and the last sip of wine were gone, Bella stood up unceremoniously. Edward looked up at her with raised eyebrow, as she turned around and curled a hand behind his neck, before attacking his mouth with her own. Before he knew it, she was in his lap again, his cock trapped between them, her breasts pushed up against his chest. Her hand reached between them, gripping and stroking his slick cock, before she raised up once again and engulfed him in her pussy.

She set the pace, a fast and hard ride, which he met with his own shallow thrusts. His hands supported her ass as she bobbed up and down, while their lips moved feverishly, kissing, sucking, panting and gasping, till guttural moans and breathless expletives echoed off the walls of the apartment as they came together in a hot, messy, sweaty tangle of hearts and bodies.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

It was with great reluctance that they stepped out of the apartment the next day, having been perfectly content to spend some quiet (and not so quiet) time together. Despite talking every day on the phone, they found more than enough to discuss now that they were face to face and more importantly, skin to skin.

However, Alice would not be deterred, and insisted on meeting them for a late lunch near her place.

"I know you are going down to Forks tomorrow, Bella," she said. "That means I won't see you the entire weekend. And you know we will all be busy with work during the week. I will never get to meet him!" Bella could hear the pout in Alice's voice, and gave in with a laugh.

Thus, they stepped out that rare sunny Saturday, walking hand in hand into the small Italian bistro a few blocks down. It took their eyes a few minutes to adjust to the comparative dimness of the restaurant, but Alice spotted them at once. Waving and grinning, she caught Bella's attention and soon the three were seated comfortably at a cozy booth near a large picture window, enjoying the mild sunshine.

Edward smiled when he finally got a good look at the woman across the table. Alice must have been at least six or seven years older than Bella, he estimated, though there was an air about her that made her seem younger. She was small in stature, but within a few minutes in her company, he could see that she had a big personality. She communicated with her entire body, it seemed, her eyes widening and her hands moving expressively as she spoke.

Lunch was a lot of fun, and Bella was secretly delighted that Alice and Edward seemed to be getting along so well. For all her current exuberance, she knew that Alice was usually quite uncomfortable and reticent around men. To see her grey eyes sparkling and her delicate features scrunched up in honest laughter at something Edward said was as unexpected as it was heartwarming.

Towards the end of their meal, they were laughing at Edward's retelling of one of his trips with Jasper, when a strange look passed over Alice's face. She looked surprised, then sad, and then quickly covered up her reactions by excusing herself to the ladies room.

Bella frowned a little as she watched her friend walk away. Alice may have tried to hide it, but something about Edward's story had affected her strongly.

"Edward, do you think…" Bella turned back, but stopped at the look on his face. "What is it? What's wrong, Edward?"

Edward blinked. "I'm not sure, but… When she got up, I saw a tattoo on her shoulder blade, I think?" He seemed unsure, and somewhat shaken.

"Yes, she got that done in Europe, when she had gone on that trip a few years ago. What about it?"

Edward drew in a deep breath and would have spoken, but he saw Alice walking back. He whispered, "I'll tell you at home. I'm not sure, but… later, _cherie_."

Bella frowned a little, but nodded. He gave her a relieved smile and kissed her softly, just as Alice sat down again.

"I leave you two for a minute and you're all over each other!"

They broke away laughing, glad to see that Alice seemed to have recovered from whatever had troubled her earlier. When they said their goodbyes, Alice made Edward promise to meet her again before he left. They stood watching as she walked over to her car, waving as she pulled out of the parking lot.

The minute she was out of sight, though, Bella turned to Edward with a raised eyebrow.

"Tell me," she demanded.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

**A/N:** Next week: Alice's tattoo, and a trip to Forks.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N:** Headaches make writing difficult.

**Chapter 17**

Alice was not entirely surprised to see Bella at her door that evening. She knew she hadn't hidden her reaction very well at brunch, and Bella's concern had been obvious.

"Hey Alice," Bella said, casually sidestepping her friend to enter the apartment. "Got a minute?"

"Sure," murmured Alice. She shut the door and turned, only to find Bella comfortably seated on one of the bar stools at the kitchen counter, pulling out a bottle of wine from her huge handbag. With a sigh of equal parts affection and annoyance, Alice walked into the kitchen and opened a drawer. "Corkscrew?"

"Yes please," Bella replied, having already set up a couple of plastic wine glasses next to the bottle.

"I do have glasses, you know," Alice commented drily.

"Sure, but I was trying to bring my own party, see?" Bella said, working on uncorking the bottle. "Ah, here you go." She poured out generous portions of the full-bodied Shiraz she knew Alice enjoyed, pushing one plastic goblet towards her friend with a raised eyebrow.

Alice sat down with a sigh and raised her glass in a silent toast. With serious faces, they took a moment to appreciate the drink, holding their glasses up to the light, swirling the wine slowly and inhaling deeply to appreciate the bouquet, then taking a delicate sip and allowing the flavor to unfold, before finally swallowing. Then they both looked at each other and broke out into giggles.

Alice put down her glass with a smile. "How come you're here being a faux wine snob with me instead of enjoying some alone time with that handsome fiancé of yours?"

An involuntary smile lit up Bella's face as she spoke about Edward. "He's exhausted with all the travelling, and God knows there was no chance of actual sleep if I was around, so I left him to get a few hours shut-eye. Besides, there was something I needed to talk to you about."

Alice looked down at the counter and swallowed hard. All signs of mirth had disappeared from her face. "Bella, I know you noticed my reaction at brunch today. But seriously, it was nothing. I'm fine. Everything's fine."

Bella didn't say anything for a beat. Then she took another sip of the wine and said softly, "I'm not trying to pry into your life, Alice. I know you are a private person and I respect that. There is something that I need to ask you, though. If you feel you can't, or don't want to answer, that's alright. But just hear me out, ok?"

Alice's eyes were wide with apprehension, and the panic was rolling off her in waves.

"Do you know Jasper Whitlock?"

Alice's brow wrinkled in confusion. Whatever she had thought Bella would ask, it clearly wasn't this. "Jasper… isn't that Edward's friend? I haven't met the man, if that's what you're asking. I only just met Edward, remember?"

Bella ignored the snarky tone. "No, ok, it's just that Edward had been saying something about Jasper and then you got up and left suddenly, so I wondered."

Alice sighed. Her walls may have been up as high as ever, but they weren't entirely impenetrable in the face of her friend's concern. "It wasn't his friend," she said softly, her lips trembling slightly. "It was the story that he was telling us… it reminded me of something… someone else."

Bella silently reached into her bag, brought out a small container, and opened it to reveal a slice of cherry pie. Alice choked out a surprised laugh at her friend's thoughtful deviousness. Digging into the pie, she continued, "You never met my mom, but she was the most important person in my life. After my dad… left… she brought me up single-handedly. I was a mess, I… ok, that's a story for another day. Anyway, mom passed away four years ago, just a few months before I met you, in fact. We found out about her cancer too late, and it was too aggressive to fight in the end. After… I sat down one day, and recalled every good memory I had with my mom. I remembered how we'd always said we would travel. I had some money saved up. It just clicked, at that moment. I packed up, bought a ticket, and was in Europe within a week."

Her eyes took on a faraway look and her face relaxed into wistful lines. "I met him in Luxembourg. Tall, blond, blue eyes, must have been a few years older than me. I tripped, and he caught me. He was worried in case I'd hurt my foot, and insisted I sit down while he checked it out. It was outside the National Resistance Museum, and I remember he made some silly joke about resistance being futile." She rolled her eyes, making Bella smile. "We ended up talking for hours at a little café. He was a history buff, and was actually touring the war museums in Luxembourg. We spent the next three days more or less joined at the hip. Then I moved on to Germany and he left to meet his friend in France. He said they made it a point to take a couple of weeks off from work every summer to explore, or try something new."

She smiled, absently taking another sip of her wine. "One of the stories he shared was about the time his friend and he went cliff diving in the south of France. It was just very similar to the story Edward told us today. That's why I got startled."

Bella casually asked, "What was this guy's name? And how come you never mentioned him before?"

Alice avoided looking directly at Bella. "I … don't know his name."

"What? But didn't you spend like three days with him?"

"Yes," Alice said, blushing. "But meeting him like that, it was just so romantic and he was so perfect, with his British accent and mannerisms, and he was so handsome. My reality has always been such a mess, I just wanted this to be untainted and well, it's stupid, but I wanted the fairytale, not reality. So I told him I didn't want to know his name. I called him 'Lux', for Luxembourg, and he called me 'Dove'. He said if I named him after soap, so would he. It was just a stupid juvenile joke."

Bella shook her head in amazement. "Soap names aside, why did you not ask for his real name before you left? I mean, you clearly liked this guy if he's still affecting you this way four years later. Why didn't you ask to keep in touch? Why didn't he?"

Alice squirmed a little in her seat with embarrassment. "He did ask me… he wanted to keep in touch. He actually wanted to cancel his plans with his friend and travel with me. He wanted more. But I said no. He… ah, that last day, he tried to tell me about himself, he told me he was married, getting divorced, and I couldn't handle knowing anything more. I felt conflicted enough about that. We did feel something strong, Bella, it was just… I couldn't trust it was real. I couldn't trust _he_ was real. And married… He promised he would find me, though. Someday, when the time was right, he said we would meet again."

Bella gazed at her friend in frank surprise. Whatever she had expected, it wasn't this. "Did your tattoo have something to do with him?" she asked after a pause, recalling Edward's reaction to it.

Alice fidgeted a little before answering. "Yes… when we decided to part, he insisted that he needed a permanent reminder of our time together. A talisman, he called it, to ensure we would meet again. He got it on his chest, and I got it on my shoulder blade."

She turned and moved her shirt aside so Bella could clearly see the tattoo—'Love will find a way' inscribed inside a circle, which she saw on closer examination, was actually made of tiny words… 'Lux' and 'Dove', repeated again and again, in an infinite loop.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

"What do you think we should do about it?" asked Edward, as they sped towards Forks the next morning.

"I'm not sure," said Bella, her brow furrowed in thought. "There's no doubt Lux is Jasper. I mean, he has the tattoo, the timeline fits and everything. And there's no doubt Alice still likes him. The thing is, I don't want to tell her and then have it all fall apart if Jasper doesn't feel the same. And that whole romantic notion about meeting again if fate decrees it… at this point I'm not even sure they wouldn't just turn around and hide for another four years if they felt we had meddled, and it wasn't truly fated, or whatever."

Edward chuckled. "I can put one of your concerns to rest, _chérie_. He definitely feels the same about her. I remember that summer. He was pretty torn up about the situation with Maria when I last saw him in London. She had cheated on him and he was trying to put up a brave front, but he was really unhappy inside. Then he took a short trip to Luxembourg, and came back a changed man. He gave Maria everything she wanted, just to get the divorce finalized quickly. The day he was single again, he got drunk and told me all about his little Dove. How he wanted her more than he had wanted anyone else, how he would find her if it was the last thing he did. I always suspected he knew her name, though. I can't imagine he wouldn't have peeked into her things given a chance. I guess he just never managed to track down the right Alice."

"Or maybe he wanted a sign as well," mused Bella.

"Or maybe he wanted a sign," agreed Edward. "He's had the worst experience with women and relationships."

"Worse than yours, Monsieur Masen?" she smirked at him.

"What relationships?" he laughed. "I count you as my only serious adult relationship, _ma belle_. I have no experience at all!"

"You are going to gain some experience right now. Turn left at the intersection."

"Are you trying to lead me into a secluded lane to have your way with me, _méchante fille_?" Edward joked, half seriously.

"Oh no, I would never," she gasped theatrically. "I meant you're going to gain experience… of meeting your fiancée's gun-wielding father."

_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Charlie Swan looked out of the window at the tall, distinguished man opening the car door for Bella. He saw the smile they shared, and the way the man held her hand as they walked up to the front door. He recognized the look, and on one hand it made him glad, because he knew the man loved his daughter. On the other hand, he saw a man not much younger than himself, who held in one hand everything Charlie did not have—love, hope, and happiness.

His thoughts were cut off by a firm knock on the door. He paused with his hand on the doorknob to compose himself, then threw the door open with a broad grin for his daughter.

"Bella," he said, opening his arms to accept her hug. A sly glance over the top of her head showed him that the man with her… Edward… was looking on warmly, his eyes focused on his fiancée.

Perhaps he felt the sharp glare Charlie was throwing his way, or maybe he just happened to shift his gaze a little, but Edward's eyebrows rose in reaction. The next moment, Charlie's face was a composed, pleasant mask as he held out a hand in greeting. The extra-firm handshake didn't particularly surprise Edward, but the barely suppressed antagonism did. After their phone conversations, he had been pretty sure he and Charlie had come to an understanding.

His eyes met Bella's happy, hopeful ones, and he smiled. With a small shrug, he followed her into the house. Bella had been at pains to tell him that her father was not particularly social, after all—maybe this was just a manifestation of that awkwardness. His suspicions seemed to be borne out when Charlie made visible efforts over the next couple of hours to engage with him. As a result, lunch wasn't the ordeal Edward had feared it might be. In fact, after a few beers Charlie unwound considerably, reminding him a lot of Eleazar, with his quick wit and sarcastic humor.

It was after lunch that the gloves came off. Bella had insisted on clearing up on her own, all but pushing the two men out of the house. Edward complied after a quick fortifying kiss, and followed Charlie out of the back door, onto a trail that led into the dark woods that surrounded the little town.

They had barely stepped into the shadows of the tall, mossy conifers, when Charlie stopped to face him with a hard look on his face.

"Are you moving here?" he asked, coming straight to the point.

"I told you on the phone, Charlie, I hope to. But it isn't easy to set things up. We're working on it, though."

"And how will it work when you do?" Charlie pressed. "Won't you still have to travel back and forth a lot?"

"Well yes, I will have to travel a little. Perhaps every few months, at least in the beginning."

"And where will that leave Bella? What kind of marriage are you really offering her, if you aren't even going to be around? It's not something that inspires a lot of trust, let me tell you."

Edward folded his arms and regarded the older man steadily. "I appreciate that you are concerned about Bella, so I will answer this," he said, looking Charlie straight in the eye. "I have never, and will never do anything that will shake Bella's trust in me. I'm being realistic when I say I will probably have to travel back and forth. If I have my way, Bella will be with me on as many of those trips as we can manage. But she's got her own work, and I know that won't always happen."

"Sure, you have good intentions now, but take it from me, people change all the time. One moment you think you know and understand them, the next they decide they've outgrown you and moved onto something else. How do I know you won't do that to her? I mean this whole engagement was so sudden… it's like you just wanted to make sure she wouldn't get away, but how well have you really thought it through?"

Edward nodded, finally understanding what was really bothering Charlie—his own unhappy past. "I'm not trying to tie her down just because I'm scared of losing her. I want her to grow, Charlie. I know I'm lucky she wants me. I'm not taking that for granted. And she is really far more mature than you give her credit for. Have some faith in her."

Charlie stilled, his face darkening with anger. "What gives you the right to comment on my…"

"No right, Charlie," said Edward coolly, stepping forward and gripping the other man's shoulder. "And while I respect you as Bella's father, I will not accept you or anyone else belittling our relationship. I know it has been fast, and I know it's unconventional. But for her sake, I need you to at least stop judging us based on what you went through."

Charlie took a few deep breaths, struggling for a moment before he finally spoke. "You're right. I've never interfered in her decisions before, and I'm not going to start now. But look, you will make mistakes, and I'm trusting you to fix them as well. Just know that I will always be on her side, and I will always support her. As long as you do right by her, I'm fine with you."

Edward nodded and gripped Charlie's hand in understanding.

"So, do you fish?" Charlie asked, leading him further through the verdant woods.

Edward smiled as a pale ray of sunshine broke through the dense canopy. Charlie Swan was starting to grow on him, taciturn speech, bristling moustache and all. Bella would undoubtedly be pleased.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

"So, you and Charlie, huh?" Bella commented, lounging on her bed and watching Edward as he shrugged out of his shirt.

"What about it?" asked Edward with a raised eyebrow, stepping out of his jeans.

Bella ran her tongue over her plump pink lips, her eyes following the toned lines of his body, from his broad shoulders, down to his muscular thighs as he stood before her wearing just a snug pair of soft boxer briefs that left little to the imagination.

"He looked happy with you after the walk earlier. He didn't even bat an eyelid about you sharing my room. And he told me you were a good man," she said, ticking off each point on raised fingers. "I'd say you just made another conquest, Monsieur Masen."

Edward chuckled, leaning over to kiss her briefly before rounding the bed and joining her under the comforter. "The only prize I will ever desire is you, _mon cœur_. And besides, Charlie and I both want you to be happy."

"So you really won't tell me what you two talked about? Did he threaten to kill you if you hurt me? Did he try to scare you off and tell you that you aren't good enough for me? Give me something, Edward," she whined.

"_Non, mignonne_. We discussed important man things. I cannot speak about it to you… there is a man-code, _vous savez_." He lay back on the pillow nonchalantly, his arms folded back under his head.

Bella eyed his rather appealing naked torso for a moment, before pouting. "Alright. But I'm not happy about it."

Edward grinned, snaking out an arm to pull her closer. "I'm sure I could make you very… happy."

Bella gasped as he nuzzled the sensitive skin of her neck, his nimble fingers slipping beneath her thin sleep shirt to trace tantalizing patterns against the smooth skin of her back, down over her rounded derriere, and back up her spine, leaving goosebumps in their wake.

"Yes," she conceded, shifting so that she lay sprawled over his body, rubbing against him in the most deliciously tortuous way. "Yes, you really must do that."

They then lost their words, as lips found lips. A while later, lying breathless and sated in his warm, protective arms, Bella smiled. He made her _very_ happy.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

**A/N: **In my fictional world, people don't want to kill each other. I like it here. It's kind of peaceful.


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N: **This-here story crossed 500 reviews and I'm so happy! I know I say this all the time, but thank you all for reading.

**Chapter 18**

Early Monday morning, while Edward and Bella were starting their journey back to Seattle, the Fates dusted their hands and prepared to take a more active interest in the life and times of one Alice Brandon.

An excellent assistant, Alice had over the last four years proved herself perfectly capable of ensuring that things ran smoothly in the office. Bella had recognized her ability early on in their association, and though she knew Alice could well have branched out on her own, she was grateful that the older woman chose to stick on with her. She had proved her worth time and again, especially during the month that Bella had spent in France, when Alice had for all intents and purposes been running the show on her own. In the weeks since then, the two women had been working on a more or less equal footing, and Bella had been seriously considering a major change in the way they operated.

Alice walked into office and powered up the computers. She brewed herself a cup of coffee, luxuriating in the golden ray of sunlight that broke through the light cloud cover and slanted through the window. It was magical how a shaft of light could transform dust particles into sparkling, dancing, enchanting fairy dust. She smiled at her silly thought, perfectly happy in that moment.

The ping of messages pulled her back to the here and now, and she slipped into her comfortable desk chair to start sorting through queries from artists, information from galleries, notes from collectors, and the occasional spam message. One name stood out, though—an email from Jasper Whitlock. Alice recognized the name as that of Edward's friend, and was mystified. Why would he be emailing Bella on her work id of all things? After considering it for a minute, Alice decided to go ahead and open the mail. It was possible that the man was contacting them professionally. If it had been something personal, he would have texted Bella or mailed on her private id, right?

She skimmed his email, and frowned. He said he wanted to discuss something important, but that he would call her at the office. It was already nine, and he intended to call at nine-thirty. She quickly dashed off a text to Bella. Not five minutes later Bella replied, asking her to go ahead and talk to Jasper if he called, and that they'd discuss it when she reached work in a couple of hours.

Alice shrugged. It was just another phone call, like all the others she dealt with when Bella was out or busy. She ignored the unsettled feeling that this was somehow different, and once again focused on the work at hand.

In half an hour, she had gone through and responded to most of the more pressing matters, and in the process, had found her equilibrium once again. When the phone rang at exactly nine-thirty, Alice was cool, calm and collected.

Most of that calm deserted her the moment she heard the deep voice on the line.

"Hello, this is Jasper Whitlock," he said. "I'm calling to speak to Bella Swan, if she's free, please."

Alice closed her eyes involuntarily. The accent, the deep timbre of his voice—for a moment she thought… But no, the telephone lines must be messing with her hearing or something. Or maybe it was just that she unconsciously associated a British accent with one particular voice that she hadn't heard in over four years. She opened her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Hi Jasper," she said in her most professional voice. "I'm afraid Bella isn't at work yet. Edward's over… well, I'm sure you know that, and well, they were visiting Bella's dad over the weekend, and aren't back in town yet. She will be here in a couple of hours, though, if that isn't too late for you. You could… I can take a message." She winced at how she had transformed from strong, calm professional woman to bumbling, stuttering idiot in the space of a minute, and with no good reason.

He didn't seem to find anything amiss, though. "Could you? That would be great. I didn't really want to butt into her time with Edward, but this sounded like a good deal. One of our associates in Spain recently got in touch with me. I'll explain the details later, but the upshot is that he's very interested in Native American art, and was looking into buying something. Now, I convinced him to hold off until I got in touch with Bella. I figured it would work out for both of us… you get a commission, and Ed and I get some more business with the man, right?"

Alice laughed and agreed, "That does sound like a win for all of us. Why don't you give me the details and I'll explain it all to her when she comes in? We could look into the options that might suit your associate's taste and have a more fruitful discussion this evening… tomorrow morning for you."

Jasper agreed, and spent the next fifteen minutes sharing everything he had gleaned from the man. "You got all that?"

"Yes, and I'll be in touch soon… or Bella will."

"Oh come, you mean you didn't enjoy talking to me? So eager to palm me off to Bella," he quipped.

"Look, I…" Alice was once again at a loss for words, her composure evaporating at the teasing tone of his voice. She couldn't understand what was wrong with her.

"You haven't even told me your name," he complained, before palming his face at how needy he sounded. He was fighting the impulse to flirt with the woman on the line, her sultry voice a massive turn on. Even her occasional stutters were making him smile. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something about the way she spoke… it was oddly familiar, and he wasn't in any hurry to sever this strange connection.

"I don't believe you bothered to ask earlier," Alice shot back, before she could censor her words. "And here I thought the British were big on manners."

He choked out a startled laugh. "I do apologize. You're right, I have been woefully remiss. Do forgive me," he cajoled with an exaggerated British accent, loosening his tie and settling back in his chair.

"I'll have to think about it," she replied, the smile in her voice hard to miss. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Sorry, I thought I'd already asked you a question. You could answer me if you please."

"A question? Nah," she said, stretching out the word in an affected drawl. "I can't remember any direct questions. It was more of a comment wasn't it?"

"I'm sorry, I was under the distinct impression I had asked a question, implied if not direct. What is the big secret, darling? Got a man's name, have you? What is it… Harold?" he jibed, trying to rile her.

He succeeded, and her eyes flashed dangerously enough to scare off any man, if only he could have seen her right then. She was so annoyed that she stood up and started pacing. "I don't think you can talk about names, _Jasper_." There was no missing the sarcastic inflexion. "Isn't that a strange name? It means a stone, if I'm right. Well, it suits you. You're certainly acting dumb as a rock."

Her words, her tone, the challenge—it was like a shot of adrenaline to his bloodstream.

"Do calm down dear girl," he cooed in a saccharine sweet tone. "It's ok, I understand. Every woman has to suffer through days like this. Why don't you just make yourself a nice cup of tea and try to relax?"

Her angry gasp nearly made him fall off his chair, he was shaking so hard with suppressed laughter.

"You did not just say that! You're the one who needs a cup of tea," she bit out, one hand raking through her hair in frustration. "Frigging British tea," she grumbled, barely audible, yet loud enough to make him bite down on his fist in glee.

"Oh no, darling. Don't hate on the tea," he said. He would have added another incendiary comment or five, if his assistant hadn't looked in at that moment and signaled that he had another call in a few minutes. "Listen, I would have loved to continue our invigorating discussion about the benefits of tea, but I have another call I need to get to. How about we continue this another day?"

"I don't think _we_ need to continue anything," she said with spirit. "I'm sure Bella will be happy to talk to you later."

"Wait darling," he cut in before she could get another word in. Even though she realized it was just a manner of speech for him, something about the way he said _darling_ in that accent just got her all hot and bothered.

In a softer, more sincere tone, he continued. "I really am sorry for riling you up. Won't you tell me your name?"

"Mary Alice Brandon," she said equally soft, and somewhat shy. "But please call me Alice."

"Alice," he repeated, slightly dazed. He squeezed his eyes shut in disbelief. "It's been a pleasure talking to you, Alice. I'm truly sorry if I offended you."

She giggled at what she thought was his British gallantry. "I'm really not offended. And I'm sorry I was so rude about your name. I should let you go now. Bye, Jasper."

He stayed grasping the phone in his hand after she dropped the line, staring off into space. It couldn't be… could it? He needed to talk to Edward.

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

Edward kissed Bella chastely before stepping out of the car and going around the back to grab their bags. He paused at her lowered window, leaning in for another quick peck.

"I'll leave in about half an hour to meet a few people. I'm not sure what time I'll be done, but I'll call, alright? Have a good day, _chérie_."

She watched him enter the apartment building, blowing him a kiss when he turned and winked at her before the door swung shut behind him. With a sigh and a smile, she shifted the car into drive.

Other than one rather cagey text from Jasper asking Edward to call him later that night, they had no other hints about how the conversation between their friends had turned out. In the interests of assuaging her burning curiosity in the most discreet way possible, she paused just outside her office and peeked in surreptitiously. A few moments of observation were enough to see that Alice wasn't behaving at all out of sorts, which, Bella supposed, was a good sign. She also seemed to be in a good mood, smiling a lot more than was usual for her on a Monday.

Satisfied by her preliminary reconnaissance, Bella walked in.

"Hi Alice, how's it been this morning?" she greeted her friend with a warm smile.

"Not too bad," said Alice. "The only thing that requires immediate attention is Mr. Whitlock's call. Why don't you go through, I'll bring you a cup of coffee and fill you in on what he wanted."

With a nod, Bella walked over to her private office. She saw that Alice had already placed a note with the main points of her conversation with Jasper on the desk.

Alice brought over coffees for both of them, and explained exactly what Jasper had told her about his client.

Bella tapped her lower lip with a pen. "Alice, I'd like you to deal with this one on your own."

Alice blinked. It was not unusual for her to deal with clients, but this wasn't some local gallery or art aficionado. "Bella, I'm not sure…"

"But I am. Look, I know what you are capable of, and this is going to be such a good experience for you. Besides, I'm right here if you really need me for something. But I'm pretty sure you can do this on your own."

Still Alice fidgeted. "Bella, I'd rather you spoke to Mr. Whitlock…"

"Why, did he say something to you?" Bella asked with a frown.

"Ah, no… I mean, we… it was just that we seemed to push each other's buttons, is all."

"How do you mean?"

Alice twitched and scratched her nose, sure signs that she was trying to hide something. Then she sighed and hung her head. "Bella," she moaned. "His stupid sexy British accent reminded me of my guy… you know."

"Lux from Luxembourg?"

"Yes! And I kept stuttering and making a fool of myself, and then we just kept baiting each other, and I was so annoyed, but I think I might've liked it a bit too much. How am I going to talk business with the guy when my mind is already thinking of more ways to cut him to size?"

"Alice, relax. Knowing Jasper, he was enjoying it just as much as you were. Edward has told me enough about him to know that he's perfectly professional when he's at work. Really, don't worry about it too much. Anyhow, I'll sit in on the phone call tomorrow, and you can take it from there, ok?"

Alice sighed and nodded.

Bella grinned and dashed off a text to Edward.

_They've been flirting!_

He replied a minute later.

_I'm calling Jazz now._

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

"Hello, Edward? What took you so long? This is an emergency, man."

"Do you really want to know? Well, since you asked… Bella and I woke up this morning, and…"

"Stop right there! This is serious, Ed. But wait, tell me something. You've met Alice, yeah?"

"Bella's friend? _Bien sûr_. Didn't you speak to her a little while back?"

"Yes, yes. What's she like?"

"Well, she is a nice girl, petite, has a sense of humor. But why do you ask?"

"Please Ed, just help me out here. Does she have dark hair? And grey eyes and… and a tattoo on her shoulder blade?"

"Yes, that sounds like her. Have you met her before?"

Jasper let out a long breath. "I think I've found her," he said quietly. "After all this while, I might have really found her."

"Who?"

"My girl, you wanker. My Dove. The girl I met in Luxembourg. Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about."

"Are you sure? You've only spoken to her once, so…"

"Yeah, I'm sure. I've been looking for a Mary Brandon since I sneaked a look at her passport 4 years ago. It's her."

"Do you want me to tell her?"

"No, no! I need to see her for myself. Suppose she's forgotten me, Ed? She might be in a relationship by now. That'd be just my luck, huh?"

"I'm not going to argue about your pathetic luck with women, Jazz. But I really hope things are different with Alice, because she's a really great girl and Bella's best friend besides."

"You have no idea, Ed. Listen, I have a plan that might work…"

…_ _ _ …_ _ _...

**A/N:** Next week: Long lost love, maybe?


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N: **The fanfic site has been particularly difficult this week. I couldn't access the site at all for days! It was horrible… but thanks for the reviews—getting those emails made my fic-less days so much better.

**Chapter 19**

"Bella!" Edward called out, shutting the door behind him. "Where are you, _ma_ _chérie_?"

He tossed his messenger bag onto the ottoman near the couch and toed off his dress shoes in the general vicinity of the small shoe rack in the hallway. Memory of Bella's frown the day before made him pause and kick at the shoes so that they landed about an inch away from the rack, not quite symmetrically aligned, but close enough. With a satisfied nod, he called out to her again, raising his hand to loosen his tie.

"I'm in the kitchen," she replied, and he wasted no time in hurrying to her side. She let out a small cry of alarm when he walked right up to her and grabbed her in his arms, leaving her breathless with a demanding, passionate kiss.

He pulled away sooner than she would have liked, but his grin was making it impossible to continue to kiss. Shaking her head at him in amusement, she took a step back to get a better look at him. "Oh dear God," she muttered. "It's a good thing I had to leave early today."

He ran his hands lightly up and down her spine, settling on her ass and pulling her closer. "Why is that, _ma belle_?"

Her eyes darkened at the feeling of his body against hers. "Because, sweetheart, if I had seen you looking like this, neither of us would have made it out of this apartment all day. I do believe I like seeing you dressed up."

Edward threw back his head and laughed, but Bella couldn't take her eyes off his body. She ran her hands over his smart grey suit jacket, smoothing it over his shoulders, running her fingers along his defined chest and back up along the silk tie that hung partially loosened from his collar. She had thought he was hot in jeans, working up a sweat on the farm, but this… She wasn't sure she could handle the sight of him in a suit, his hair mostly tamed, his shirt begging to be unbuttoned. That raw sensuality that she knew so intimately was hidden away beneath the veneer of a sophisticated urban gentleman. He looked so distinguished and so utterly desirable, she had to consciously hold herself back from tearing off his nice clothes.

Under her touch, his laughter stilled, and his body stiffened in reaction.

"You had something to tell me, _monsieur_?" she crooned breathily in his ear, her lips brushing against the sensitive skin and making him shiver. With a groan, he turned his head to capture her lips with his own, and for a long moment, there was nothing that mattered in his world, but the taste and feel of her.

They parted before things got out of hand, though. He hugged her to him and she happily reciprocated. When their breathing was back to normal, he pecked her cheeks and said, "Would you mind it very much if I moved here, Bella?"

It took her a minute for the implications of that statement to sink into her brain.

"Are you… you mean it?" she gasped.

He grinned and nodded. "We pretty much finalized things today. There is still some legal processing to get through, but I should be here for good in less than one month."

Bella squealed and did a little happy jig, wriggling her ass and pumping her arms. Edward chuckled and she jumped back onto him, squeezing tight and peppering kisses everywhere she could reach. His hand slipped under her t-shirt, and his hips rocked into hers. They barely registered the sound of falling cutlery as he pinned her against the kitchen counter, hands frantically moving, tugging at clothes, squeezing at skin, bodies restlessly pressing together, seeking friction, seeking each other.

The chime of the oven timer made them both freeze. Bella had one hand down his pants, stroking his hard cock, while the other gripped his tie to bring him closer. Edward had pulled down the cup of her bra to fondle her breast under the cover of her t-shirt, at the same time as his other hand stroked through her long hair.

One look at each other, and their laughter could not be contained. They slowly and regretfully untangled themselves from the other, stepping back so there was a decent amount of space between them.

"We should eat," said Bella, blinking to get her disordered thoughts into focus. "And you should change into something less sexy."

"Less sexy, _mignonne_? I will try. Would you like to come help me out of the suit? Perhaps you could come along and watch to make sure I follow your instructions?"

She narrowed her eyes and pointed at him sternly, stopping him from going any further with his seductive offers. With a wink and another laugh, he turned towards the bedroom. Bella slumped into a chair, shaking her head and grinning at his antics.

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

"So tell me how this is going to work," she asked, serving up the baked chicken, grilled vegetables and mashed potatoes onto their plates. "You said you and Jazz decided not to open an independent branch out here, correct?"

He nodded, waiting for her to sit across from him at her small dining table. He stretched out his long legs, trapping hers between his ankles. "It would have taken more time, involved more legalities, and honestly, given the state of the economy, would probably not have been very profitable considering the kind of capital we'd have to invest to begin with. That's why we'd been looking into collaborating with an established local firm instead. Fortunately for us, Peter Sawyer knew of us, and was pretty eager to tie up."

"But what does that mean for you? You aren't working for him, right?"

"_Non, chérie_. We will be like partners, and I will lead and oversee projects just as I would have done earlier. The only difference is that legally, my company is merely consulting at Sawyer's. It is not a bad arrangement for us with a view to the future, either. It will give me and Jazz time to scope out the possibilities here better. When we do establish a branch here, we will already have a strong network and contacts to get us going."

She nodded in satisfaction. "I can see the benefit of that."

"I can see the most alluring benefit right in front of me," he said with a wink, squeezing her calves gently between his legs.

She didn't react, merely eating another bite of chicken. Captivated as he was by the way she ran the tines of the fork along the softness of her lips, Edward realized with a start that she was gradually working one foot up his shin, over his knee, massaging the top of his thigh. He gulped when her foot changed course, moving back down and around, skimming the underside of his knee. Then she moved up again, not stopping till her foot rested comfortably against his straining erection.

With a gasp, he dropped a hand onto his lap to hold her foot securely against him. She smiled guilelessly as she spoke about her day, while flexing her foot daintily. With each subtle movement, his breath came faster, and shorter, his body tensing with pleasure, but not enough for release. Poised at the edge of a knife, he savored every moment of the torturous dinner.

The moment they were done eating, however, he pounced. She had barely enough time to place her knife and fork on her plate, before he was out of his chair, sweeping her off hers, and into the bedroom.

He avenged himself for her teasing multiple times that night.

She made a mental note to tease him more often.

They fell asleep completely exhausted, sated, and content.

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

They woke up grumpy and disoriented.

Edward reached for his phone, while Bella groaned and stretched to turn on the table lamps.

"_Mon Dieu_, 5:45 am," he muttered, blearily taking in the numbers on his phone, before it started ringing again. With a muttered imprecation, he accepted the call. "Jasper, _tu es une pomme de terre avec le visage d'un cochon d'inde._"

"And a very good morning to you as well, old chap," said Jasper cheerfully. "Slept well, did you?"

Edward blinked and held out his phone for a moment to check that he was indeed talking to his dearest friend. Bringing the phone back to his ear, he cuddled a sleepy Bella closer to his chest and replied, "Jasper, are you dying? Seriously injured? In desperate need of my presence in any way? Because if not, I'd thank you to go away and come back later, when I'm awake."

Jasper laughed. "Your woman has completely ruined you, old man! Since when do you sleep in later than 5 am?"

"Since I spent most of the night doing things to my woman that I'd never tell you about," Edward said with a yawn, before dropping a soft kiss onto Bella's head. He smiled when he noticed that she was already more than half asleep. He really had worn her out last night.

Before he could bask in the memory of the several very pleasurable things he had done to her, Jasper spoke again. "Very good! I have clearly been an excellent influence on you. Despite your sad lack of female companionship all these years, you still managed learn enough from me to snag, and might I say, shag, young Bella. Brilliant work."

Edward groaned. "Jasper, I cannot deal with your jokes this early. Is there anything you wanted to tell me, or shall I assume you were freaking out about Alice again?"

"I am offended, Edward. I do not freak out about Alice! I have not freaked out all week, and I am not freaking out now."

"Then why are you on the phone with me talking about absolute rubbish this early? On an international call, no less."

Jasper cleared his throat. "Actually, about that… It's not international."

"What do you mean? London to Seattle. International."

"I'm in Seattle. So Seattle to Seattle. Not international."

Edward sat up in shock. His sudden movement made Bella pout and slide off him with a huff, but she allowed him to stroke her hair as he continued to talk in hushed tones.

"You're here? When did you land? Why didn't you tell me earlier? And more to the point, what are you doing here?"

"I arrived late last night. I presume you were busy doing unmentionable things with your fiancée, so you should actually be thanking me for not calling when I landed. And I'm here to support you with the Sawyer deal, of course."

Edward rolled his eyes. "In other words, you were freaking out about Alice, and couldn't stay away any longer. We got the Sawyer deal, by the way, so congratulations, I'm moving here in a month."

"That's fantastic, Edward," Jasper said warmly. "Bella must be ecstatic."

"Yes, she is," said Edward, smiling happily. "And that doesn't take away from the fact that you freaked out."

"Edward, _parle à mon cul_."

"Classy, Whitlock," sniggered Edward. "Now tell me, where are you staying? Why don't you come over for breakfast to Bella's place in a couple of hours? She has a late morning today, and I don't have to meet Sawyer till afternoon, so we can catch up."

"Are you sure? Won't Bella mind me just dropping in?"

"Jasper Whitlock, are you getting bashful in your old age? Shut up and get here. Bella likes you for some reason, and besides, she's Alice's best friend. You could probably use her help in doing whatever it is you hope to accomplish here."

Bella stirred upon hearing her name, and turned to smile sleepily at him. "Tell Jasper to get his ass here," she said, before slipping a finger under the waistband of his boxers. Edward quickly ended the call, texted his friend, and tossed the phone aside, before grabbing Bella's wandering hands as they tried to pull his boxers off.

"We don't have time, _mignonne_," he groaned, watching in fascination as she sat up and stretched, using the motion to get rid of her tank top.

"Jasper can wait," she winked at him, sliding her panties off as well.

The breath left his lungs in a whoosh as he took in the glorious woman shuffling towards him. "Fuck Jasper," he breathed. "The world can wait."

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

Translations:

_Tu es une pomme de terre avec le visage d'un cochon d'inde_ : You are a potato with the face of a guinea pig.

_Parle à mon cul_ : Talk to my ass.

**A/N:** Things are wrapping up nicely, wouldn't you say?


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N:** It's been very difficult to write. My brain feels like mush, and I just want to sleep all day, every day.

**Chapter 20**

Edward and Jasper moved quietly around each other in the kitchen. Jasper put the bread to toast, while Edward scrambled some eggs. He then handed Jasper some fruits to cut while he put on a fresh pot of coffee. When everything was ready, they carried it over to the table and sat down across from each other.

Jasper pushed his hair off his forehead. He shifted in his seat, tugged at the collar of his shirt, shifted in his chair again, and sat back. He straightened up, tapped his feet, clenched and unclenched his hands, flexing his fingers. Edward watched him impassively from across the small table, enjoying the sight of his friend stewing in uncertainty.

Bella, freshly showered, walked out of her room, took in the situation at a glance and rolled her eyes.

"Hi Jasper, it's so good to see you again," she greeted, walking up and giving him a warm hug.

"How could I stay away from you, my girl? Besides, I thought I'd come by and give you another chance at choosing the better man of the two of us. It's not too late, you know," he responded, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"We were just waiting for you, _mignonne_," said Edward, ignoring Jasper and pulling out a chair for her. "Come, let us eat and talk."

"Alright," she said, spooning some scrambled eggs onto her plate. "How about you start, Jasper? What do you plan to do now that you're here? I mean, you do have a plan, right?"

Jasper sighed, slathering a slice of toast with jam, making sure not a patch was left bare, before he spoke. "Honestly, I don't quite know what I'm doing here. I thought I ought to build up to it before I sprung myself on Alice. But well, I just couldn't get her out of my mind, and the uncertainty of it all got to me, I suppose."

"So why are you here and not over at her place?" asked Bella, quirking an eyebrow. "I mean apart from my obvious attractions."

"Um… yeah, so here's the thing. I was originally going to just drop in at your office today, pretending I was in town for work. You know, fake surprise, and so on. But on the flight here I started thinking. I don't know much about her, really, do I? Does she even remember me? Is she with someone else now? What if I turn up and she doesn't even recognize me, or worse, tells me she doesn't feel the same?"

Seeing that he was rapidly working himself up into a frenzy, Edward wordlessly held out a glass of juice. Once he had calmed down marginally, he spoke. "She's different from any other woman I've ever known. I want to do something spectacular for her. I want her to know that I'm here waiting, if she still wants me."

Bella sat forward purposefully. "Jasper, you need to stop second guessing yourself. You need to go to Alice and tell her everything you just told us. You have to trust yourself and you need to trust her. You know we'll both help you in any way we can, but honestly, you're wasting your time here. Go to her."

Jasper blinked, then slowly nodded his head. With wide, awestruck eyes, he said, "You're right. What _am_ I doing here?"

Quick as a flash, he was at the door. Looking back briefly, he said, "Edward, your fiancée is very smart. Listen to her, son!"

He swung the door open, ready to dash down the few blocks to Alice's place… and came to a screeching halt, his mouth open, eyes wide, and heart beating double time.

For standing right in front of him with one hand raised as though to knock on the door, was Mary Alice Brandon.

"Lux?" she gasped in disbelief, unfurling the fingers of her outstretched hand to tentatively graze his cheek, unsure if her eyes were playing tricks on her.

They both jolted out of their stupefaction at the touch.

"Dove," he whispered, a delighted smile spreading over his face. It was echoed in the look of pure happiness that was blooming across her delicate features. Their hands reached out involuntarily, and with their fingers and their eyes they traced the changes that four years of life had wrought on the other's countenance. They were lost to the world, lost in each other, so it was a momentary shock to both of them when a voice broke through their absorption.

"Jazz, are you still here?" Edward called out, seeing the back of his friend seemingly frozen in his spot at the door. "Get going, man. If Alice finds out you knew who she was beforehand, she won't be happy. Go, so we can all get together before I have to return to London, _ça te dit_?"

He stopped abruptly when he saw the woman at the door.

"Alice?" Bella came to a stop next to Edward.

Jasper watched in horror as Alice's face froze upon hearing Edward's words.

"You're Jasper? Did you… you knew? But how… why didn't you tell me? Were you… all three of you laughing behind my back? I don't believe this!" Watching Alice come to the wrong conclusion was a bit like watching a ten car pile-up on the highway—equal parts horrifying and fascinating. Before any of them could utter a word, Alice spun on her heel and ran.

"Alice!" Jasper choked out, clutching at air. She was gone.

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

Alice ran into her apartment, panting and gasping for breath as though the hounds of hell were at her heels. With her back pressed up against the door, she hid her face in her hands, taking a moment to catch her breath.

Already, her mind was questioning what she had just seen. Surely it couldn't have been real… it must have been a hallucination. Listening to Jasper's accent, talking about Lux to Bella the other day, her own lurid dreams—it had all addled her brains.

A shiver went down her spine when she remembered how it felt to touch him… and she knew it had been real. With a despairing moan, she slid down to the floor.

Gradually, her mind calmed and her reason returned. She was hit by the realization of how overwhelmingly stupidly she had just behaved. Why had she run? She had been ecstatic to finally see Lux after all this time, but when she realized he was also Jasper, she had felt so confused and betrayed.

He had been _hers_ for all these years—her Lux, her secret, unattainable love. But then it turned out both Bella and Edward knew him, and they _all_ knew about her, and somehow, she felt cheated.

She tugged at her short hair and groaned at her stupidity. Not only had she run away without giving Lux… Jasper a chance to say anything, or explain how he came to be there, she had been unbelievably rude to Bella and Edward as well. What had come over her? She knew deep down that Bella would never want to hurt her. Instead of listening like a normal, rational person, she had let all her latent insecurities take over. She was thirty-three years old, not thirteen. She had to fix this.

She quickly scrambled to her feet and jerked the door open. Then she stumbled and with a squeak, fell right into the lap of the man sitting at her doorstep.

"Well now, darling, I had hoped you would agree to listen to me, but you just up and dropped into my arms," said Jasper with a grin, holding her close. "I can't say I'm complaining, though. I might've been out here all day screwing up the courage to knock."

For the second time that morning, Alice was speechless. She blushed and unconsciously burrowed deeper into his arms. With a sigh, Jasper tightened his arms around her, dropping a kiss onto her head. Spotting her perfectly curved ear, he lightly kissed her there. Then the warm apple of her cheek beckoned, so he obliged with another kiss.

Alice giggled at his light, teasing kisses. He grinned at the sound, and took it as an invitation to pepper her face with tiny kisses.

"Hey, you can't just kiss me!" she protested.

"Actually I can. I don't believe there is anything in the long-lost lovers' handbook against kissing. I'm pretty sure I'm on solid ground here," he countered, going right back to kissing her, as though it was his life's calling.

She gave in and pulled his face to hers, returning his kisses with her own, until they could no longer stop their relieved, happy laughter, and just sat there, wrapped up in each other.

"You're Jasper," she said, running her finger along his jaw.

"I am. And you are Mary Alice Brandon, my Dove," he responded.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have run."

"And I'm sorry too. I should have just told you when I found out it was you." He dropped a soft kiss on her lips.

"Why didn't you?"

"I was scared. I couldn't believe I got so lucky, to find you not once, but twice in this lifetime."

They shared a deeper kiss, as she let him know without words how deeply his words affected her.

"How did you find out it was me?" she asked, absently playing with his unruly hair.

He huffed. "You remember how we decided we wouldn't share our real names, and if we met again, it would have to be fate?"

"Yes, of course."

"Well, I might have tried to cheat. I managed to get a glimpse of your passport one day when you were in the shower. I only knew your name, and that you were American. You came out before I could look up your address. And well, a few months after… once I had my divorce and everything… I tried to search for you. But no matter how badly I wanted to find you, it still felt wrong, somehow."

"How would it have been wrong?" she asked, unable to think beyond the fact that they could have been reunited years ago.

"There was something about the way you wanted to leave it up to fate, I guess. I didn't really trust my judgment when it came to relationships at that point. I was afraid that I would push too hard, and you would end up hating me."

"That could never happen," she promised. "But what made you change your mind now?"

"Thank you," he pecked her lips. "Well, I didn't realize it until Edward came over here. Actually, it was Ed and Bella who suspected something first. He was telling you a story about our adventures, and you apparently dashed away."

"Yeah," she said, with a wry smile. "It reminded me of something you had once told me, and I just missed you so much at that moment, I was in pain."

"I'm sorry, darling. I think Edward caught a glimpse of your tattoo then. He's seen mine, of course, so he recognized it. He did call and ask me some leading questions, but I didn't make the connection then. It was when I spoke to you that I knew."

"I thought I was losing my mind, thinking all British accents sounded like my Lux," she giggled.

"I nearly froze up on the phone when you told me your name. I wanted to tell you, but I thought you might have forgotten me. I was in such a state, I couldn't stay away any longer."

His declaration tugged at her heart, and their lips touched. Their tongues caressed, and their breaths were as one.

"I can't believe you found me," she said, when they parted at length, panting for air. "But I've never been happier."

"I never stopped thinking of you, you know? I missed you every day. I can hardly believe I'm here, at your doorstep, holding you."

Alice reached up and kissed the disbelief off his face.

"We should go back to Bella's place," she said, pulling away from his enticing lips and standing. She held out a hand and helped him up. "I need to apologize to her… to both of them. And then I want you to sit down and tell me what you have been up to all these years."

Jasper hugged her close and nodded. "Let's go, my darling. If we leave those two alone too long they are liable to start shagging again."

"Can't blame them, can you? If I didn't really want to apologize, where do you think the two of us would be right this minute?" she winked at him, locking her door and pulling him along as she made her way down to the street.

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

Half an hour later, the four friends sat back on Bella's comfortable couches, feeling quite drained after their unexpectedly emotional morning. Alice's heartfelt apology had made Bella cry, which had made Alice cry. Seeing the two women in tears had caused the two men a lot of distress, and it was a while before they had all calmed down.

Now settled comfortably with Bella by his side, Edward ran a hand through his hair and said, "_Mon Dieu_, what a morning. And we all still have to go to work. Jazz, you and I need to meet Sawyer's people in two hours. _Chérie_, what time will you and Alice be free tonight?"

Bella leaned forward to grab her phone from the coffee table. Scrolling through her calendar quickly, she said, "I should be done by six. Alice, you're meeting the Kent Gallery people this afternoon, aren't you?"

"Yes, I've got a little paperwork to finish in office, as well, so I should be done around the same time as you."

"Perfect. How about we pick you two ladies from work? We can all go out for a quick bite to eat," Edward suggested.

Alice shook her head. "How about we do that tomorrow? I just have so much to talk to Jasper about right now, I'm going to be terrible company for you two."

Jasper nodded. "You're right, as usual." He turned to Edward and Bella, who were observing them with obvious amusement. "You two will have to make do without us tonight. It will be hard for you, I know, but you must understand that my Alice needs me more than you do."

Edward looked like he was about to say something, but he was forestalled by a series of loud knocks on the door. He looked at Bella questioningly, but she just shrugged.

"Bella's a popular girl today," said Jasper with a wink.

She rolled her eyes at him, before getting up and walking over to the door. No sooner had she opened it, than a veritable tornado of words and motion swept into the apartment.

"Bella! See, I made it after all. Oh let me look at you… my baby's all grown up and _engaged_!" Her voice pitched so high it was a squeal, making everyone in the living room cringe. "Where's the ring? Show me, show me… ooh, nice! It's exactly the kind of thing you always liked, isn't it? Lucky girl! Here, take my bags… I have so much to talk to you about!"

Renee paused briefly at the sight of three stupefied faces looking up at her from the living room. Her eyes flickered from Alice, who she recognized from her earlier visits, over to the two tall, handsome men who both stood up when she entered the room.

"Oh my! Bella, you didn't say you had company," she said archly, fluffing up her hair a little and walking up to Edward with a winning smile.

Edward smiled back and shook her hand briefly. "I'm Edward, Bella's fiancé. It's a pleasure to meet you, Renee," he said. "Just a moment, I'll help Bella with the bags."

He slipped past and quickly took the bags from Bella's hands. "Shall I stow them in the spare bedroom, _mignonne_?" he asked in a low voice.

She nodded, looking a little stunned at her mother's sudden arrival. She caught Renee checking out Edward's muscular back and arms as he walked away with the bags, and her eyes narrowed in annoyance. Clearing her throat, she said, "Mom, this is Jasper, Edward's best friend. And you know Alice already."

"Of course. How are you, Alice dear?" Not giving the younger woman a chance to speak, she carried on. "It's been such an exciting day already! It's literally raining men for me… hallelujah! I mean, first at the airport, and now I walk in here and you have these two handsome things waiting for me."

Bella gritted her teeth. Much as she loved her mother, it was not her idea of a good time to see her swooning over her fiancée and his friend. Edward returned at that moment, and put his arms around her, kissing her softly at the nape of her neck. "Relax, _chérie_," he murmured. "It will be alright."

They were startled by a small bang, as the front door once more swung open, and a tall, thin man loaded with bags stumbled in.

"Renee, where do you want me to put these for you?" he asked, looking up to see five pairs of eyes trained at him. Only one pair was welcoming. He gulped and tried to avoid the stares of amazement from the others.

"Uncle Ben?" Bella gasped.

Edward and Jasper looked at each other and broke out into helpless, silent laughter. Just when they thought the day couldn't get any more dramatic…

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

Translations:

_ça te dit : _sound good/you up for it?

**A/N:** Well, well. Where do you suppose Angie is?


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N: **It's been a very trying month and a half. Car crashes, mysterious ailments, family drama, exhausting travel… and it's not nearly over yet.

**Chapter 21**

Ben's eyes jumped warily from person to person. He was smart enough to know when to keep quiet, and stupid enough to believe that Renee would actually say something that would ease the increasingly uncomfortable situation.

"Yes, isn't it great? I met him at the airport in Phoenix. It turned out that we were both on the same flight to Seattle, would you believe it? And Ben is such a gentleman, he spoke to those rude airline people and convinced them to upgrade me to first class!" Renee was practically squealing with excitement. "You wouldn't believe how much more comfortable it is to fly that way, Bella."

"Sure, mom," said Bella drily. "Such a wonderful coincidence." She didn't miss the way Ben continued to evade her gaze. "So, Uncle Ben, what brings you here to the States? Are you sure you're up to all this travelling? I thought you were planning to stay in France for a couple of months while you recuperated."

"Yes, yes," he harrumphed, swaying back and forth on the balls of his feet. "I'm much better now. Very peaceful place, as you know."

Bella rolled her eyes at his non-answer. Before she could interrogate him further, Jasper spoke up.

"That's good to know, Ben. How's your lovely wife? I think young Bella said she was planning a cruise of some sort?"

"Yes, Ben, where is Angela? I meant to ask, but it completely slipped my mind," laughed Renee, leading the way into the living room and patting the couch invitingly. Ben happily took a step forward, before encountering Bella's narrowed gaze. He quickly stepped back towards the front door.

"She's alright. Busy, you know. It was a pleasure to meet all of you, but I should leave now. Renee, I'll give you a call later today if that's ok?"

With a nod and a wave, he was gone.

Edward looked over at Bella and raised an eyebrow in question. She merely huffed and sat down next to her mother.

"What a lovely man," gushed Renee, completely oblivious to the dark looks her daughter was shooting her. "We've always got along, you know. I can't bear his wife, though… she's so completely self absorbed! Don't tell anyone I told you this, but I think she isn't faithful to the poor man."

Jasper looked from Renee to Bella's stormy face to Edward's confused expression. While at any other time, he would have truly enjoyed watching the potential disaster unfold, today he had other, more pleasant things on his mind.

Grabbing Alice's hand, he stood. "That's nice, that you get along with him, Renee. He's your sister's brother-in-law, isn't he? You've probably known him for years! Well, it's been lovely meeting you, and we should all get together… maybe tomorrow for drinks or something?" With a quick hug for Bella and a pat on the back for Edward, he tugged Alice towards the door. "We'll get going now, can't slack off work, can we? Ed, I'll see you at Sawyer's place in an hour and a half, alright?"

Alice seemed bemused as she was practically dragged out of the apartment. She didn't dwell on it long, though. They only had a little time before they needed to get to work, and neither she nor Jasper wanted to waste a moment on anyone else's drama. They practically sprinted back to Alice's place, and for the next forty minutes or so, completely shut out the rest of the world while their lips, hands and bodies reconnected.

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

"Well, your friend seemed a bit strange, Edward," Renee commented. "Dragging poor Alice along that way. Rather a handsome man, though. How old did you say he was, again?"

"Mom!" Bella cut in. She stood up and started pacing as she tried to come to terms with all the drama that had unfolded that morning. "That's completely inappropriate. Jasper isn't strange, he and Alice both just have to get to work. So do we, for that matter," she said, with a swift look at the time on her phone screen. "Now, I'm really happy to see you, don't get me wrong, but how long are you planning to stay?"

Renee shrugged. "I hadn't really planned my trip out in such detail, darling. I heard from Charlie that your Edward was in town," she paused to smile warmly at him. "So I decided to drop by. Why, is there a problem?"

Edward walked over and took Bella's hand, calming her down with a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Not at all, Renee," he said smoothly, charming her completely. "However, there is a slight logistical issue. I am here for a few more days, so we will need to book you in at a nearby hotel for the duration. Don't worry about it, though. I'll take care of everything. Now that we have accommodations taken care of," he smiled, making Renee's eyes glaze over. "I am sadly tied up all day today, but would you like to have lunch with me tomorrow? I would love to get to know my Bella's mother better."

Bella fought down her feelings of worshipful awe at the way Edward handled her mother. Renee seemed to have fallen completely under his spell, and happily agreed to his plan.

"_Merveilleux_," he crooned, helping Renee up from the couch, before turning to Bella with a wink. "Now, _ma belle_, could you perhaps look up a good hotel nearby? I can help Renee check in before my meeting. You need to be at work soon too, don't you?"

"Yes, I should…"

"Oh Edward, that's so sweet of you!" Renee cut in. "But don't worry about it, I can check myself in. I don't want to put you to the trouble."

"It's no trouble at all," Edward assured her, steering her towards the kitchen. "We have a few minutes before we need to leave. Why don't I make you a cup of coffee while Bella gathers her things?"

He winked at Bella, who gladly ran into her room and straight through to the bathroom, where she splashed cold water on her face.

"God, this has been the strangest morning," she muttered. "Please, please make the weirdness disappear."

Ten minutes later, a much more composed Bella walked into the kitchen to see Edward and Renee having what appeared to be a serious conversation. They were speaking in hushed tones, and both clammed up as soon as they saw her. Bella looked at them in bewilderment.

"What?" she asked. "Why're you both looking at me that way? Is there something..." she extended her hands to the sides and looked down at herself.

"You see what I mean, Edward?" whispered Renee loudly, trying to hide behind her coffee cup.

Edward seemed to be having a hard time keeping a straight face. "_Oui, je sais_. But I don't think you need to worry about her now, Renee."

Bella rolled her eyes. "What, is this about how I need to be taken care of, and have low self esteem, or whatever? Honestly, mom, I'm twenty six. Just stop, already."

"A mother never stops worrying about her child," Renee declared with a melting glance at Edward. "I told you not to go to France all alone, but did you listen?"

"If I may say so," Edward said gently, sipping his coffee, "I am extremely glad she did not listen."

Bella smirked and accepted the cup Edward had pushed her way.

"Well, sure it did work out better than I had thought, but…"

"But nothing, mom. I'm fine, I'm blissfully happy with Edward, and I'm going to be horribly late if we don't leave in the next five minutes," said Bella decisively.

Edward immediately stood and helped Renee up as well, gathering the cups and quickly restoring the kitchen to a more or less neat state. Bella stifled a laugh at his efforts and blew him a kiss from behind Renee's back.

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

"So, what were you discussing with mom anyway?" she asked, slumping back into her comfortable chair. It had been a long day.

Edward's soft laugh washed over her tired mind like a soothing balm. "Your mother loves you, _ma belle_. She was making sure I knew to take good care of you."

"Ah, I see. How far did she get, listing all my faults?" she asked wryly.

"Not very far, _chérie_," he said with a sigh. "I wouldn't let her. But now I understand better what you meant when you told me about her earlier. She does have a unique way of showing her concern."

Bella laughed a little bitterly. "Unique is the right word. And the strange thing is, I know how much she cares, but it's just… I've spent most of my life trying to do things that would make her happy. I mean, she's my mom, you know?"

He murmured understandingly, and she felt the tension seep out of her body.

"So while I'm really happy to see her after all this while, I'm also completely stressed out about what she expects of me. Why can't she just be there for me, Edward? Why can't she just be a… a _mom_ for a while?" She knew she was whining, but she couldn't help it.

"Don't worry too much, _mon cœur_. You can't change people, but I'm here now, to help you deal with them. I loved my parents, but I can't say they didn't frustrate me at times," he said wryly.

"Oh my God, do you think our children will say the same about us?" she blurted out, staring wide eyed out of the window. "Edward, what if I do this to them?"

"I'll make sure they turn out alright, _chérie_," he said teasingly. "So, children… how about you come home now and we'll start on that right away? I've heard it might take a little practice before you get it right."

She laughed in delight, her cheeks flaming with combined embarrassment and excitement. "Really, _monsieur_? You can't say things like that to me when you know I still have another meeting to get through. But once I'm home…" her voice dropped seductively. "I think we should examine this matter in greater detail."

"_Mon Dieu_," he muttered, "I look forward to it, Isabella."

His voice gave her goosebumps, and made her breathing speed up. "Edward," she practically moaned. "You are dangerous, you know that? You've got me so worked up right now, my nipples are all nipply!"

"We can't have that," he said seriously. "Your clients might get the wrong idea. Hmm… how about we go back to discussing your mother? Hey, what was the matter with Ben this morning? You seemed annoyed with him, but I never got to ask why."

"Ugh! Talk about a buzzkill," she groaned. "Good job, sweetheart. Yeah, Ben… I have a feeling he has a thing for mom, and there's just something creepy about it. Back in France, we had a few really weird conversations, and I realized he has been… well not stalking, exactly, but just… making sure he keeps intersecting with her life, if that makes sense. And you can't tell me it was coincidence that the minute Aunt Angie went off on her cruise, he came here, and just happened to be on the same flight as mom. No way."

"Interesting," mused Edward. "I could find out more about it if you like. I mean, I am meeting your mother for lunch tomorrow. Maybe it'll distract her from trying to give me her version of the third degree."

Bella chuckled and looked up as Alice popped her head in and mimed 'clients'. "That's a great idea, actually. And now I've gotta go. See you at home in a couple of hours, my darling."

"_Oui, chérie_. I'm looking forward to it."

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

Renee hung up the phone with a wistful smile. She and Charlie had been on the phone for a good hour, but she could have sworn it seemed more like ten minutes.

Even though her marriage to Charlie Swan hadn't worked out, she remained rather fond of him. He had been such a handsome young guy, and well, she'd been caught up in the romance of it all for a while. But even though she had completely smashed his dream world the day she decided she no longer wanted to be a small-town housewife, he had been decent about it.

He had never once delayed paying child support, and she knew for a fact he had never maligned her in front of Bella. In fact, now that she thought about it, her friends in Forks insisted he never spoke a word against her to anyone. Neither did he date much. He hadn't changed the quirky color scheme she had picked for the kitchen cabinets, or thrown away the crazy rugs and tie-dye bedspreads she had sent him sporadically over the years. He had never tried to throw her out of his life. In fact, he had made it easy for her to live her life, and it was with a slight pang that she realized that somehow, despite their divorce, Charlie remained her anchor.

She lay back on the comfortable hotel bed, lost in thought. She liked Edward. She had been aghast when she learnt that Bella was engaged to a man practically her age, but he seemed to be a good man. It definitely helped that Charlie agreed with her assessment.

Her phone buzzed beside her and she wondered if it was Charlie calling her back for some reason. Maybe he was reconsidering her suggestion that they meet and catch up while she was in the area.

She huffed out a breath and pouted slightly when she saw Ben's name on her screen. With a sigh, she answered the call.

"Hi Ben. Oh yes, Edward booked me in at a nice little hotel… what? No, no, why would you change hotels… Ben, I really don't think you need to uproot yourself that way. Sure, we can meet for dinner. Alright, I'll see you in an hour."

She tapped the screen to end the call, then raised her eyebrows at her phone. "If I didn't know better, I'd think this man is trying to flirt with me."

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

**A/N:** We're back to regular updates now (unless something else catastrophic occurs).


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N:** Radiation therapy starts next week for dad. It's going to be a long six weeks.

**Chapter 22**

The air smelt different... fresh, crisp, yet warm and comforting… newly-cut grass and sunshine. It smelt like home.

That was the way she always, always knew she was in France, back home at Edward's farm. She knew that if she opened her eyes and rolled over to the right just a few inches, she would see white lace curtains billowing in the breeze. She would see the first rays of the sun lighting up the deepening blue of the sky. If she walked up to the window and looked out, she would see the fields and trees and bushes, all green, so green, the grey of night fading away with every passing moment.

She smiled, and unable to fight against it any longer, opened her eyes.

The exposed wooden beams of the ceiling glowed a warm, deep brown against the cream paint that covered the walls. She stretched in utter contentment, pouting a little when she realized she was alone in bed.

After another moment basking in the comfort of their soft sheets, she pushed off the down comforter and swung her bare legs over the side of the bed. Edward must have dressed her in his t-shirt when he woke up, knowing she hated the chill that hit her skin if she crawled out of bed naked.

Her bare feet made hardly a sound as she padded over to the open window. With a hand braced against the window frame, she settled a hip against the window seat and looked down into the yard. The grass was growing so fast. Maybe she would take the mower out later that morning. Too many unwanted creatures could hide in the grass, and after that one encounter with a mole, she wasn't too keen on finding out what else could possibly pop out of sufficiently long undergrowth.

Her stomach rumbled, breaking into her thoughts. With a lazy yawn, she ran her fingers through her hair, half-heartedly working through the tangles that she came across. She made her leisurely way down the stairs, smiling when the aroma of coffee reached her. She wasn't particularly fond of the brew, but quite liked the way it smelt.

She couldn't see him in the kitchen or living area, though, so she softly stepped to the open door leading to the back garden. Her laugh could not be contained at the sight in front of her. Edward's coffee sat on the rough wooden table they had placed beneath the overhang, tendrils of heat escaping unheeded into the morning air. The man, though… the man was crawling about on all fours around a small patch of land he must have cleared the evening before.

"Go, horsey!" The small child sat comfortably on his shoulders, one hand gripping his hair, the other waving imperiously in the air as she urged her mount to hurry along. Still in her flowery onesie, hair in loose, messy braids, the little girl was the most unlikely tyrant. And yet, there was nothing Bella and Edward would not do to make sure she was safe and happy.

Looking up suddenly, the child grinned at her and squealed happily, "Mama!"

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

Bella sat up with a gasp. A quick look to the left reassured her that she hadn't woken Edward. She silently made her way to the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of water from the refrigerator. She had gulped down half the bottle before she felt calm enough to relive her dream.

It was hardly the first time she had dreamt of Edward, or of their possible future. It was, however, the first time she had actually seen their child, their daughter, with such clarity. A smile tugged at her lips. Maybe it was brought on by their teasing conversation about children earlier that evening, or maybe it was just her subconscious nudging her along to recognize that she was ready for that next step in her life.

Of course, it helped that she was already on the path to her dream. Except…

"Bella?" Edward sounded groggy. He shuffled into the kitchen, squinting at her through barely open eyes, his lips a pout, hair a wild mess. "Come back to bed, _chérie_."

She smiled into his warm chest as he completely engulfed her in his embrace. After a moment, he lifted his head from the crook of her neck, yawned, and asked, "Couldn't sleep?"

She shook her head. He swayed them slightly from side to side, as though dancing to a silent melody.

"Are you thinking about your mother and Ben? I'll talk to him if you want, _mignonne_."

Again, she shook her head. "I'm not sure I even want to know what goes on in that man's head," she said with a grimace. "No, they can handle whatever it is on their own. I was just thrown when they landed here together, I think."

"Hmmm, makes sense," he agreed, tracing a long forefinger up and down the sensitive skin of her side. "What's on your mind, then?"

"I had a dream."

"Was it a bad dream?"

"No," she smiled, "it was the best dream."

"Tell me," he coaxed, pecking her lips softly.

She blushed and tried to squirm out of his arms. He let her take a step away before he hooked his finger in the strap of her tank top. She stopped in her tracks, facing away, yet acutely aware of every move he made.

"I could convince you," he whispered, gently moving the strap down. He stepped close enough so that every fiber of her being reached out to his heat, but just far enough that he wasn't actually touching her. His warm breath hit the side of her neck, and she could feel the way his breathing sped up in time with her own.

Bella moaned softly. Her body swayed towards his, every cell vibrating with a desire to be closer.

"Tell me," he repeated gently, pecking the soft spot beneath her ear. His hands ghosted over her bare arms.

"Edward," she protested half heartedly, leaning her head back against his firm shoulder. She let out a sigh of relief at the contact.

His hands moved over her ribs, hovering just under her breasts. She shifted restlessly, her chest thrust out and her derrière seeking contact with his warm, solid body. He chuckled and let his hands cup her breasts, kissing her neck softly to soothe the shudder of desire that ripped through her. Flicking at her nipples once, he moved his hands, pausing at the waistband of her sleep shorts. Instead of going lower, he slipped his hands under her top. They both groaned at the feel of skin on skin, and their hips moved of their own accord.

He stroked his fingers gently over her smooth, warm skin a few times, circling closer and closer south. She gulped and almost jumped in reaction when he slipped a finger inside her shorts, swiping against her clit before retreating. He did this again and again, till she was groaning and writhing in want, her arms reaching back to grip him close, her hips jerking in unfulfilled need, her breath coming in harsh gasps.

His body now completely surrounded her, legs framing hers, arms wrapped around her waist, shoulders hunched over her back. His soft, controlled, teasing pecks had grown into more demanding open-mouthed kisses and nips along her shoulder, neck, and down to her collarbones. He could not get enough of her taste, of how her skin felt against his own.

"Bella," he murmured, licking up her jaw. "Tell me, and I'll make you come."

She was too riled up to articulate a response, continuing to writhe against him. A sharp tap on her butt snapped her out of her haze. Rubbing and squeezing to soothe the sting, Edward turned her around to face him.

"Tell me."

Her brown eyes swirled with arousal and a spark of annoyance. He smirked and pulled her closer, so she could feel his arousal hot and hard against her belly.

She reached up on her tiptoes, crushing her lips against his. Their interested parts were now better aligned, and for a few moments, there was nothing but the friction, the taste, the touch, and oh, the pleasure.

He pulled away too soon for her liking, leaving her still unfulfilled and wanting.

She groaned. "Our life together, Edward," she said. A smile curled up the edges of her lips. "Our baby, our daughter."

His breath hitched, and the next moment he had scooped her up in his arms. In the bedroom, he laid her out carefully on the bed and tossed away her clothes. He then kissed and touched every part of her body, from the tip of her nose to her peaked nipples, from the dip of her waist to the curve of her elbow. His desire simmered just under the surface with every caress, until he finally entered her body in one swift thrust. Their physical need collided with the depth of their emotions as he stroked in and out. He drove deeper, faster, and she begged for more, craved more of him, because it would never be enough—she could never have enough of his love.

Spent and sated, they lay hand in hand, trying to calm down their racing heartbeats. Their bodies cooled, and seeing her shiver, he reached for the cover. She smiled, hummed, and curled up against him.

"I want nothing more than to make your dreams come true," he said quietly.

She kissed his arm. "You already do. I love you, Edward."

"Love you too, _ma belle_," he said, smiling.

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

"Edward, you asleep?"

"Hmmm," he breathed out and shifted closer. "Maybe."

"I had a funny thought."

"What?"

"You know if Alice and Jasper have kids…"

"Hmm, what about it?" he moved a hand to cup her breast.

"What do you think they'll call them? Palmolive? Camay?" she snorted a laugh, dissolving into giggles.

He turned her to face him and leveled a stern look at her. "That is a little mean, _chérie_. Besides, they'll probably go with Pears."

She smacked his arm. "Olay."

He grabbed her hand and pretended to nibble on her fingers. "Avon."

"Aveeno." She nudged his leg with her knee and he moved so their legs tangled comfortably.

"Imperial Leather," he declared with a superior expression.

"Now _that_ is mean," she said in mock-seriousness.

He chuckled. "Yes, maybe we should just sleep."

She snuggled against his chest and a comfortable silence settled over them.

Edward's eyes grew heavy and he could feel reality dissolve as he moved closer and closer to restful oblivion.

"Hey, Edward."

"Hmmm?"

"Yardley."

He smiled. "_Non, chérie_. Nivea."

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

Despite their eventful night, Edward and Bella awoke refreshed and in high spirits. Even though neither had any pressing engagements that morning, they chose not to linger in bed.

Bella chopped fruits while Edward expertly flipped pancakes for breakfast. Stolen glances and light touches punctuated their conversation, and Bella marveled at how much fun she had with him, both in and out of bed. She couldn't remember ever feeling this level of ease and comfort with anyone she had dated earlier. She mentally patted her back for having the most amazing fiancée on the planet. Even more so when he magically produced her favorite brand of chocolate milk, seemingly out of thin air.

"Let's do something fun this morning," he suggested. "I'm meeting your mom around one, so why don't we go out for a walk or something meantime?"

"That's a great idea! How about the Olympic Sculpture Park? I haven't been in a while, and it looks like today is going to be a nice, clear day."

"_D'accord, chérie_. We can pretend to be tourists and pose with all the art."

She laughed. "Edward, my love, you _are_ a tourist."

"Maybe," he conceded with a smile. "But soon I will be a resident, won't I?"

She leaned over and kissed him, but a small part of her was dismayed. Why she hadn't realized this earlier, she didn't know, but now...

Her thought, and their kiss was interrupted by sharp, insistent knocking on the front door.

"You are far too popular, _ma belle_," Edward teased, pecking her cheek before walking over to the door. No sooner had he unlocked the door, than it was pushed open and then banged shut in the blink of an eye.

Bella gaped at the sight before her. Ben stood just inside her threshold, his back flat against the door, arms spread defensively by his sides. He was dressed in his usual neat, somewhat ostentatious style, but his eyes darted wildly from side to side, and he was panting as though he'd run a mile.

Edward moved forward and gently pried the other man's fingers off the wood of the door, leading him quietly into the living room. Bella pressed a bottle of water into his hand and encouraged him to take a few sips.

"Uncle Ben, what's the matter? Are you feeling alright?" Bella asked, concern at his condition taking precedence over her initial annoyance at him for barging in.

"I'm ok…" Ben squeaked, paused and cleared his throat. After another fortifying gulp of water, he spoke again. "I'm alright. Nothing the matter with me. Just… look Bella, I'd never do anything… I'm sorry if you thought…" He paused, then tried again. "You didn't need to call Angela on me!"

"Wait, you think I called Aunt Angie? Why would I do that?" Bella protested, confused.

Ben looked at her dolefully. "I know you have suspicions about my… ah… feelings… towards Renee. But I assure you, I've never done anything improper. Truly, I just admire her. Like an angel from a distance. It's been that way for years!"

Bella shared a look with Edward, shaking her head slightly at her fiancé, who looked like he was dying to burst out laughing.

Completely oblivious to their silent conversation, Ben continued, "I just can't keep away from her, though. From the first time I saw her, I've thought she was the most beautiful woman. But it's nothing more, I swear! Just… just admiration. Nothing you need to worry about, or call Angela for. I'm leaving by the next flight anyhow. Maybe you can just tell Angie I wasn't here at all… that you were mistaken, or something?"

"Ben, relax," said Edward bracingly. "Neither of us has called or contacted Angela in any way. So there's no need for you to get so stressed, alright?"

"But when she comes here, you promise me you'll tell her I was never here?" he pressed.

"Wait a minute. She's here as well?" Bella asked incredulously.

"Er… yes. I had planned to grab some coffee and visit Renee at her hotel this morning." He looked askance at Bella, before continuing. "I was maybe half a block away when I saw Angela walk into my hotel. I came straight here."

Bella tried to speak, but words eluded her. Shaking her head, she turned to Edward. Like the perfect fiancé he was, he opened his arms and let her hide in his embrace for a moment, till she found her composure.

Then she turned to Ben, noting how he sat at the edge of the seat. For all his protestations of innocence about his feelings for Renee, his shifty-eyed demeanor didn't inspire much confidence.

"Uncle Ben, I don't want to know about your thoughts and… um, feelings about mom. It's not my place to judge, anyway. I hope I don't find you following her around again, though."

She held up a hand when he made to protest. "Look, if you want to be her friend, do it like a normal person, not a stalker. And I'm not going to lie to Aunt Angie or anyone else for you. We certainly haven't been in touch with her, so I suggest you go back and find out what she's really here for."

Ben stared at her for a moment. "So you won't help me?" he asked.

Edward leant forward and said, "Ben, it is really not about wanting to help you or not. Talking to your wife might be a better idea than asking Bella to lie for you, _n'est-ce pas_?"

Ben shook his head. "You don't know her. You don't know…" He got up jerkily and hurried over to the door, mumbling all the way. "If I hurry I can probably sneak out before she finds me."

Just as suddenly as he had appeared, he was gone. Edward blinked and turned to Bella.

"He gets stranger every time I meet him. Are you sure he's related to Eleazar, _chérie_?"

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

"Well, that is very strange," Renee commented. "I always thought Angela was a bit of a bitch, but honestly, what's wrong with Ben?"

Edward grinned at her. His lunch with Renee had proved to be surprisingly enjoyable, barring a few tense moments. He firmly but politely shut her down every time she referred to Bella with the slightest bit of condescension or negativity; and to his relief, Renee seemed to respect that.

"Surely you can guess, Renee," he teased.

"What, you mean he's avoiding his wife because he's into me?" Renee didn't do a very good job of hiding her smirk. Edward had quickly realized that his future mother-in-law was a harmless, if incorrigible flirt, and it had been quite a relief to learn that he didn't need to stave off any advances from her—that would have been awkward.

"Honestly, I suspected he was trying to flirt with me at dinner last night, but wow, I never even realized that he was actually hankering after me all these years. I always kind of thought he behaved so shady because he was trying to hide his kinky sex life from the family."

"What kinky sex life, and how do you know about it?" Edward asked, tilting his head and raising an eyebrow.

"You know I actually met Ben at a party, years ago," she said casually. "Just before I met Charlie, in fact. The next time I saw him was Carmen and Eleazar's wedding, soon after Bella was born."

She paused and sipped her wine. "That party, it was clothing optional. Oh, and we all wore masks. I can't remember a lot, because you know," she winked and raised her glass. "But there was definitely a lot of sex. Ah, good times!"

"You met Ben at a masked orgy? The straitlaced guy with a wife who could sour vinegar?" Edward asked, blinking at the improbability of it all. He couldn't wait to share this story with Bella.

"The one and only," Renee nodded. "I didn't even recognize him, actually. He came up to me at the wedding reception and said he'd been hoping to find me, blabla." She waved her hand dismissively. "I was more interested in seeing if Charlie and I could sneak off somewhere for ten minutes. Charlie Swan was pretty damn hot in a suit, back then."

Edward threw his head back and laughed. "_Mon Dieu_, I'm so glad Bella isn't here right now."

"Yes, she never wants to listen to me when I talk about anything remotely related to sex, can you believe it? I guess she takes after her father. Speaking of, I heard you and Charlie got along pretty well."

"_Oui_, he was concerned about the age gap, but I think we have arrived at an understanding," Edward said.

Renee beamed happily. "Excellent. So, is he seeing anyone these days, do you know?"

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

**A/N:** Next time: A trip, and an important decision.


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer**: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N:** Merry Christmas, everyone! Thank you all for your good wishes the past few months, they helped me get through a very trying time. Post-radiation is the pits, but it's so good to be home.

**Chapter 23**

The next few days seemed to pass all too quickly for Edward's liking. It was fun, no doubt—spending time with Bella, meeting up with Jasper and Alice a couple of times, even catching up with Renee and her crazy plans—but he felt as though a slew of precious moments were slipping by too fast to fully enjoy. That is why he found himself particularly appreciative that Sunday morning, to be alone at home with Bella.

"No, you never told me that!" Bella exclaimed, on the phone with Rose. Edward watched her walk from the bedroom into the kitchen, then meander into the living room, running her fingers absently through his hair as she passed him. "Mmhmm. Yeah, you should." Her hips swayed gently and Edward found himself craning his neck to follow the sight of her alluring derriere as she bent to grab a dirty coffee mug, before walking back into the kitchen. "Sure, yeah," Bella nodded, making her way back to the living room and dropping down onto the couch. Edward reached out and pulled her closer, so that she was practically sitting in his lap. She snuggled into his embrace. "Wow, how did you find out?"

Edward tilted his head questioningly at her. 'Later,' she mimed at him. Her eyes went wide and she laughed at something Rose said. "No way! She's such a hypocrite. I'm just glad we aren't involved in that situation anymore, you know?"

"Angela?" he whispered, raising an eyebrow. She ignored his question, instead pulling out a banana that he hadn't noticed so far, and peeling it slowly.

"Yeah, I don't even want to guess what your mom would say to that. Oh, maybe you should put her on it. Can you imagine how much fun that would be to watch?"

Edward found himself being distracted from her conversation by the sight of her pretty pink lips slowly closing around the tip of the banana. She didn't bite, just moved her lips over and off the fruit a couple of times. Her tongue darted out to lick at her lip, and he gulped. Time stilled and it seemed to him as though everything was moving in slow-motion.

Bella giggled, breaking him out of his trance long enough to make him realize that she had in fact been moving deliberately slowly. Sometime in the last thirty seconds, Bella had ended her conversation with Rose and turned her attention to torturing him instead.

"Want some?" she asked cheekily, winking and finally taking a dainty bite of the banana.

Edward tickled his revenge out of her, mixing it up by flicking at her sensitive nipples when she least expected it, and then as a final symbol of his victory, he bit off a huge chunk of the hapless fruit.

"What were you trying to do, _méchante fille_? You don't need to resort to food porn to get me aroused."

She snickered at him from where he had pinned her on the couch. "I always thought the whole banana-blowjob thing was dumb, but I wondered if it really worked. I guess I have my answer now," she said, batting her eyelashes and grinding up against his clearly interested cock.

Edward growled, playfully diving to nip up the side of her neck. "It isn't the banana, _chérie_," he explained, thrusting his hips in a torturously slow but devastatingly effective rhythm. "It's you."

His lips met hers, and it was as if the world was set right around them. Soft and slow, deeper, more demanding, they touched and caressed, skin on skin and heart in heart. A trembling need charged Bella's soul, and suddenly, what had begun as a lighthearted tease escalated into an uncontrollable swell of desire, a desperate compulsion to be with him.

Clothes were unceremoniously pushed aside. Edward turned so Bella was straddling him, her t-shirt tossed over the back of the couch, his hanging off the table lamp; her shorts and panties on the ground under the coffee table, his boxers bunched around his ankles. For a moment, Bella paused, looking at Edward and at the haphazard manner of their coupling. Then she got sucked into the blatantly lustful expression on Edward's face, and everything else faded away as she reached for his cock. She was poised above him, in the perfect position to just lower her hips and join them. She wanted it so badly, she could feel her muscles tighten in anticipation. Edward's eyes narrowed to slits as he watched her, practically vibrating with desire.

She chose to prolong the torture, shifting away. She was still on her knees, but just far enough to lean down and take his hard, eager cock into her mouth. He gasped and cursed, his eyes widening and then narrowing in pleasure, abdominal muscles taut with the strain of remaining still and not fucking her tempting mouth outright.

It was flattering how desperate he clearly was for her, how she aroused him. She licked the pre-cum off his tip, teasing him with loving sweeps of her tongue, with sucks and licks and kisses. She took him deeper into her mouth, trying to relax her throat as she moved up and down, her hands stroking the base of his cock, fingers occasionally grazing his balls, driving him out of his mind. His hand roved restlessly over her hair, her face, till moving lower he found her heavy breast and started erratically squeezing, stroking and tugging just the way she liked it.

He moved his other hand to join the first, and pinched both her nipples. She gasped and scraped his length lightly with her teeth in response.

"Bella," he gasped, "I can't…" His hands found her shoulders, stroked her jaw, and coaxed her gently off his cock. He drew her up till she was once again astride his lap, positioned just above his straining erection. His lips met hers, and his hands kneaded her plump ass as she guided him inside her. Their heightened state of arousal made it easy for him to slide right in, but there he stilled, panting as though he had run a marathon.

"Bella," he groaned. "I have… never been so… close. _Mon Dieu_, wait… let me…"

She ignored his plea, slowly raising herself off him, till just the tip was nestled within her folds; then dropped back down, fucking him with quick, shallow passes that teased and tantalized, driving them both closer and closer to the brink of ecstatic insanity.

Their movements became more and more erratic, shallow thrusting turned to deep strokes, focus and intent disintegrated in the storm of passion and sensation. Buried deep inside her, Edward sat up and gripped her face in both hands, kissing her with all the love and desire in his being. Their chests pressed close, sweat slicked and barely coherent, their pace picked up, harder, deeper, faster.

When the orgasm hit her, Bella was momentarily blinded by the sheer force of her release. For a minute, there was nothing but flashing lights behind her eyelids, the blood pounding in her ears almost drowning out Edward's grunts and harsh breaths as he gave in and chased his own pleasure. She felt his warm cum coat her pussy and reflexively clenched, drawing a tortured moan from his lips.

Still wrapped tight in each other's arms, they collapsed back onto the couch.

A while later Bella awoke, naked and alone, but comfortably tucked in bed. Her body was sated, completely spent, but her pussy still seemed to be hankering after the phantom pleasure of Edward's cock inside her. "What have you done to me, Edward?" she muttered in disbelief at her body's constant need for him.

She moved to sit up, but paused when she saw a piece of folded paper on his pillow. She recognized his beautiful cursive and smiled.

_I love your being, _

_Not just your skin, though I do love your skin. _

_I love that you are—not just what you do or say, or think, _

_But also just that you are. _

_If you weren't here, in front of me, _

_I'd still love you, as I did love you for so long, _

_All those years before we met. _

_And I love to hold you in my arms, _

_to have you in my life, _

_I love you, _

_For you are in my soul_.

Clasping his words to her heart, she looked up. Edward was leaning up against the door jamb, smiling at her softly. She could barely breathe for the emotion that swept over her at that moment. She loved his words, but she already knew—he was always showing her how he felt through his actions. Blinking back the sudden tears that sprung up in her eyes, she beckoned him over.

"You are in my soul too, Edward," she whispered, hugging him close.

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

Jasper rested his head back on his folded arms, and closed his eyes. He took a moment to appreciate the feeling of satisfaction that coursed through his veins. He was exhausted, absolutely drained, but in the best way possible. The bathroom door shut with a soft click and he smiled. A moment later, a soft, warm body snuggled against his side, head tucked neatly in the comfortable space between his shoulder and jaw.

He brought down an arm to wrap around her slight body, holding her securely to him. They fit together so well, it seemed absurd to think that they had actually been apart all these years. He shifted a little and brought her closer still. She bit his bicep in response, wriggling away slightly so as to be able to breathe, but still staying loosely within the circle of his arms.

He laughed outright. He couldn't have possibly come up with a more perfect woman if he'd tried—she needed her space just as much as he did. But still, how much space was too much space?

"Dove, you think we'll be ok with living on two different continents?" he asked softly, running his fingers through her silky black hair.

"Mmhmm," she breathed.

"No, seriously darling. I have never felt this way with anyone, but I really don't see how uprooting either one of us is viable right now, yeah?"

Alice snuffled a little, rubbing her nose with the back of her hand. Popping one bleary eye open, she mumbled, "Is this your idea of post-coital snuggling, Lux? Because let me tell you, it sucks." She turned onto her side, facing him, before speaking again. "And we'll be fine. It'll give us time to reconnect, really get to know each other. I'm not a young girl any more, ya know. I'm done with romantic notions. I'd rather not rush into things."

He tugged at the ends of her hair. "Done with romantic notions? You wound me, darling. Wasn't I romantic, flying down impulsively and all that?" he teased.

"Shush, Lux," she giggled. "That's not what I mean and you know it. I'm just saying that we've both got commitments and as long as we know where we stand with each other, I don't want to rush _us_." She paused, trying to find the words to express herself. "Our relationship is important, but I don't want to... to make it all-important. That'd be like burdening it, you know what I mean?"

"I just worry that… well, I mean Ed's engaged, and I… I already know how I feel, so…"

She reached up to stem the flow of worry that was spouting from his lips. "Lux, you remember how it was when you were married to Maria?"

He side-eyed her. "You mean other than the cheating? She was a bit of a nightmare, honestly. Demanded attention all the time. She didn't seem to understand why I needed to work at all. When things didn't go her way, she threw a fit. I guess that's why she started cheating on me, and sometimes, I think the blame's on me, in some ways? I don't want that to happen with us."

"Exactly the point; I am not her. We are not going to end up that way. I have my life, my work, and honestly, I'm only now beginning to take on more responsibility. It's exciting for me. I'm never going to hold a grudge about stuff like that. We are going to take our time, and we are going to build something solid, something lasting."

Jasper was silent for a moment, absorbing her words. "So, no ring just yet?"

Alice chuckled. "I love Bella, but she and Edward are very different people from us. We've got to live our lives the way that works best for us, right? And don't worry, when the time is right, I'll drag you ring shopping myself."

He just stared at her for a moment before planting a smacking kiss on her cheek.

"I love you, Dove. More every moment."

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

A little over two weeks later, Bella stepped out of Heathrow Airport.

"Bella!" Rose squealed, nearly bowling her over with her enthusiastic hug. "I missed you! And I have so much to tell you. Have you decided when to get married yet? Or where? I have ideas. We should discuss this. Will you spend at least a couple of days with me? Please say you will. We coul…"

Bella reached over and gently squeezed her cousin's lips shut. Rose's eyes grew wide, and she continued to make muffled noises even through her enforced duck face.

"It's lovely to see you too, silly. And I'll answer all your questions by and by, but first I want to know how you got to me before Edward."

The minute Bella let her lips go, Rose leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. "I might've had to trick him a little," she giggled.

"And by tricked, she means tripped," said Edward, sliding his arms around Bella from behind. She relaxed gladly into his embrace and turned her head slightly to kiss his head where he had nestled it into the crook of her shoulder. It took all of one moment for them to completely forget the surrounding bustle of the arrivals area of the busy airport.

It had been two long weeks since Edward had reluctantly left her behind and returned to London, and it would be another two before he moved back to Seattle to start work with Peter Sawyer. Both he and Bella knew rationally that it wasn't a very long time; and that after this, they wouldn't really have to stay away for more than a few days at a time. But right now, even a moment apart felt like a moment too long.

So when, a week after they parted, Edward began not so subtly asking about Bella's calendar at work, groaning continually about how much faster he could pack when she was around, and outright begging her to visit him, she gave in and booked her flight to London. Alice managed to move things around so Bella had a whole week free, and Edward suggested that they squeeze in a few days in France.

At first, they planned to keep her trip a secret. But then Emmett happened to visit his uncle one day and noticed that he seemed rather happier than he had been since he had returned from Seattle. It only took a little digging for him to find out about Bella's trip.

He was powerless to hide anything from Rose, though he did try. When she pouted and refused to kiss him until she shared the 'big secret that had him looking so excited', he caved. Rose rewarded him with a kiss that left him a little hazy and more than a little uncomfortable in his trousers. She then proceeded to call Bella and demand an explanation for being kept in the dark about the visit.

"Rose, we just didn't want this to become a social trip, you know? I wanted to help him pack and maybe take some of his things back to Seattle. Hop over to France and check on the farm. Just mundane stuff like that," Bella tried to explain.

Rose sniffled a little and said in a dejected tone. "Right, I understand. I just thought I was closer than a social acquaintance. I didn't think you'd grow all… distant when you fell in love. I'm sorry, I just…"

"Rosie!" Bella cut in. "No! No, you silly girl. Ugh, ok, so Edward and I just really missed each other and couldn't think beyond getting our hands on each other, alright? We didn't mean…"

Bella stopped speaking, because it wasn't as if Rose could even hear her—the girl was too busy laughing. "Bella," she sputtered, trying to control her laughter. "You were too horny to think beyond spending a week hidden in a cave of sin with Edward!"

"I can't believe you called me horny… and I can't believe you're actually right about it. I'm so mortified!"

"Aww don't be. I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities to return the favor in future. I mean, not that I've been… me and Em aren't… you know, it's just that he… Anyway, that's not the point." She paused to take a breath, while Bella giggled at her cousin's flustered rambling. "So, I'm guessing it was Edward's idea, huh?"

"Not like I protested, but yeah," agreed Bella.

"Oh, then it's on. I'm going to get to you before he does, no matter what," Rose declared. "He may be marrying you, but you were my sister first, and he better not forget that."

Bella's stomach was hurting from laughing by this point. "Really? And how do you propose to do that?"

"I'll figure it out, never fear. And if I do, you will have to spend one whole day with me in London. Deal?"

"Nope, I'm not making any bets. It's not like I wasn't going to spend time with you anyway, silly girl."

But when Edward learnt of Rose's challenge, he wouldn't budge. Bella shrugged and let the two competitive fools battle it out. It seemed to make them both happy to butt heads, and it definitely made the week leading up to her trip pass a lot quicker with the constant hilarious updates of their plans to outmaneuver the other.

And it didn't really matter in the end. Bella was standing in the arms of the man she loved, smiling at something her sister had said, and she was content.

…_ _ _…_ _ _...

**A/N:** Next time: France!


End file.
